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Where Lawyers Fear To Tread by Lia Matera (1987) – BR00058 (1999) – 🐸🐸🐸⚪⚪

The PolyBlog
June 5 1999

Plot or Premise

Willa Jansson is the senior articles editor for a law school review when her editor-in-chief gets killed. She wants to know who did it, even more so after a couple more get bumped off.

What I Liked

The law school aspect is well-done, perhaps reflective of the fact that the author actually attended a law school, a nice change from some of the legal authors today. The story zips along at a good pace, and is enjoyable, once you get past the five-too-many characters / suspects and the obligatory “oops, I’ve written 50 pages and haven’t killed anybody else off in order to sustain the suspense” technique.

What I Didn’t Like

The problem with the book is that there are too many pieces, and they all get equal weight: Willa’s relationships with the various men running through the story (she’s the protagonist but all you do sometimes is feel sorry for her), all of the various suspects (pretty much everyone), and a host of motives ranging from being petty to outright greed to the green-eyed monster of justified jealousy. The character development is mediocre, including some peripheral characters that wind up being key ingredients, and some main characters that turn out to be a complete waste of paper. Ironic that the protag is an editor because that is what this book really needed.

The Bottom Line

Zips along at a good pace.

Hush Money by Robert B. Parker (1999) – BR00052 (1999) – 🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪

The PolyBlog
June 5 1999

Plot or Premise

Spenser has two cases, one from Hawk and one from Susan. Hawk wants him to help a black college professor who was refused tenure on the basis of rumours that he was gay, he had an illicit affair with a student, and the student committed suicide as a result of a broken heart. Susan wants him to help a friend who claims she is being stalked.

What I Liked

The plot surrounding the black college professor is a typical Spenser novel — take a case for no pay, find there is something weird, start investigating, push some buttons, find out suspect number 1 is connected, and get a visit from some heavies. However, the handling of discrimination issues based on sexual orientation or colour of skin is well done, and that alone raises the story above a typical novel. Of course, the writing is first-rate, as Parker’s work always is, and the story proceeds at a fast clip, with enough twists and turns to make it interesting.

What I Didn’t Like

The second case involving Susan’s friend is ridiculous. Susan is a first-class shrink — yet she apparently is surprised when she finds out that the friend has attached herself to Spenser as her white knight coming to save her, whether he wants to be rewarded or not. Not well handled by Spenser’s character or Susan, doesn’t fit either’s characters’ background in previous novels, and just rings false with each development. Mind you, the resolution of the problem by Susan is first-rate. It just takes a long time to get there.

The Bottom Line

First-rate solid story

Malice Domestic by Mollie Hardwick (1986) – BR00053 (1999) – 🐸🐸🐸⚪⚪

The PolyBlog
June 5 1999

Plot or Premise

St. Crispin’s Village, although not quiet per se, is at least restful. Until Leonard Mumbray retires to the village and tries to exact evil upon its townsfolk, with words here or suggestions there. Extortion, blackmail, threats, sneers…whatever it takes to stir up trouble. And trouble leads to deaths, including suicides and murder.

What I Liked

Miss Doran Fairweather doesn’t like it, not one bit. And if Christie had written Ms. Marple at age 26, it might have been Miss Fairweather who resulted. Written in the classic style of life in an English village, there are lots of characters. Besides Mumbray and Fairweather, there is her love — the local widowed vicar, Rodney Chelmarsh. Only love does not run smoothly because Rodney has a handicapped daughter who exaggerates her ailments to monopolize all of Rodney’s time and throws fits if he tries to make friends with others.

What I Didn’t Like

Well-written, but there are too many little twists and turns that are not needed for the story. As well, the ending is a little anti-climactic in terms of the mystery, although it is slightly made up for with a twist in the love story part. Not enough to save the mediocre ending to the mystery but a nice ending nevertheless.

The Bottom Line

Nice ending

The Year’s 25 Finest Crime and Mystery Stories (6th edition, 1996) edited by Joan Hess (1997) – BR00059 (1999) – 🐸🐸🐸⚪⚪

The PolyBlog
May 9 1999

Plot or Premise

A collection of the best stories from 1996.

What I Liked

Only seven stories are particularly memorable:

  • Robert J. Randisi: The Girl Who Talked To Horses — A Dick-Francis-type story involving murder in the stables with the horse framed for the murder. Great whodunnit, with a trap for the murderer, and all the explanations at the end. Cross between Francis and Christie.
  • S.J. Rozan: Hoops — Smith shows up investigating the death of a basketball player, the victim of an apparent murder-suicide after killing his pregnant girlfriend. His buddy doesn’t believe it and hires Smith to find out the real story. Suspects include a jealous ex-boyfriend with a future in basketball, numerous gang friends, a coach who helps them all, and even the dead kid since he was HIV positive. Another great story from Rozan. (4.5/5.0)
  • Monica Quill: Intent to Kill — A man plans the death of his wife but is surprised to find somebody beat him to it. Unfortunately, he is standing over the body when the cops arrive.
  • Sarah Shankman: Real Life — Clare is a script-writer for a top soap opera but she has been modelling her characters after her own life, and she was recently dumped by a man and she’s rather wimpy about it. During a stint as a prospective juror, she gets help from two other jurors to spice up the story and throw in a murder or two to get revenge through the TV on the ex-bf. A small twist at the end makes a nice ending.
  • Sara Paretsky: Publicity Stunts — A woman shock writer tries to hire Warshawski as a bodyguard but gets turned down. To get some publicity, the author gets a shock jock to attack V.I. on the air for her politics but when the woman gets killed, V.I. becomes suspect number one. Guess who has to find out who else had a motive to kill her?
  • Bill Pronzini: The Monster — A woman at home gets a bad vibe from a plumber and tries to keep him away from their children. Twist ending after a very short story.
  • Ruth Rendall: Clothes — An obsessive-compulsive shopper whose addiction is clothes. No real mystery to solve, nor crime until the end, but its obvious the story was written backwards from the crime at the end to explain the reasons leading up to it. Nicely done, with great character development.

Other so-so stories by Brendan Dubois (The Dark Snow — ex-CIA in retirement home); Lia Matera (Dead Drunk — someone’s killing the homeless); Ed McBain (Running from Legs — war hero and prohibition); Walter Satterthwait (Cassoulet — master chef and the girl who got away); John Lutz and David August (Toad Crossing — building a culvert for frogs); Maude Miller (The Last Word — three sisters, one not wanted); David Corn (My Murder — an author claims to have committed the perfect murder); James Grady (Kiss the Sky — inmate trying to stop a hit); Brett Simon (A Good Thing — a con of a wealthy Brit); Nancy Pickard (A Rock and a Hard Place — PI helping rape victim); and Donald Westlake (The Burglar and the Whatsit — burglar Santa helps drunk inventor).

What I Didn’t Like

Out of the 38 stories in the collection, there are three that are merely readable by Edward Hoch (The Narrow House — inexperienced woman starts grow-up in her house); Alan Russell (Married to a Murderer — socialite and a death-row inmate); and Reginald Hill (The Perfect Murder Club — people respond to ad in the newspaper about perfect murders). However, there are four more that are wastes of paper by Sam Pizzo (Wild Horses — Walter Mitty on the internet); Susan B. Kelly (Stalking Horse — undercover woman cop as a hitter); Anne Perry (The Escape — freedom fighters break out a criminal during French revolution); and Marcia Muller (The Cracks in the Sidewalk — novelist and an intriguing homeless woman).

The Bottom Line

Good collection of stories

The Edge by Dick Francis (1988) – BR00056 (1999) – 🐸🐸🐸⚪⚪

The PolyBlog
May 6 1999

Plot or Premise

An arrogant horse-owner in England joins The Great Transcontinental Mystery Race Train across Canada, with the train stopping at several sites along the way for horseraces, with an actors troupe on the train posing as real passengers.

What I Liked

Francis is a master at moving players around in the story and having them interact in interesting ways. His descriptive prose and his keep-it-simple style make it easy to both imagine the scene and understand the characters. The sports element is there, as it is in all of Francis’ books, but he again shows his mastery in leaving it as the backdrop against all the other characters’ interactions.

What I Didn’t Like

The overall feel of the book is similar to that of a play or film with an ensemble cast — no one is really well done, but most are sufficiently interesting to hold our attention for awhile. However, some characters are still left hiding in the background as mere caricatures. As for the villain and the protagonist, both needed to be better developed, and I never felt the villain was particularly evil nor the protagonist particularly interesting — too much on their actions and not enough of their thoughts to reveal their true character. Unfortunately, I also figured out the plot fairly early, although there was one character at the end who was slightly different than expected. I also saw three or four points in the story where Francis could have easily taken the reader down a darker or more interesting path, yet the opportunities were left abandoned alongside the tracks in the story.

The Bottom Line

Another good mystery from Francis.