Tag Archives: detective

Down The River Unto The Sea by Walter Mosley (2018) – BR00183 (2020) – 🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪

The PolyBlog
January 27 2020

Plot or Premise

A detective was framed for rape, temporarily jailed, kicked off the police force and is working as a private investigator looking at a potential case of corrupt cops who tried to commit murder.

What I Liked

Mosley always creates compelling characters (like Easy Rawlins) and Joe King Oliver is no exception. Much of what you see is part of a long history … the story could have been told as a Western, or as pulp noir with Sam Spade, or as Spenser for Hire (or any of Robert B. Parker’s characters really). It is a “man’s story” taking care of “his business”, in a dark world that is full of violence which he would prefer to avoid but willing to endure when necessary. The main case (Oliver’s own) is compelling, but a little light in places. Where it falters, the case of his client steps in to keep the story moving. It was an Edgar Award nominee, and it was well-deserved.

What I Didn’t Like

His family (daughter and ex-wife) are a bit too much in the background (i.e., Oliver keeps the women-folk safe, so to speak), his relationship with an ex-prostitute is beyond confusing, and the relationship with his mentor is obvious long before a revelation.

The Bottom Line

Great character, great story, a few weak spots

The Word Is Murder by Anthony Horowitz (2017) – BR00177 (2020) – 🐸🐸🐸⚪⚪

The PolyBlog
January 18 2020

Plot or Premise

A fictionalized “true” story of the author observing a brilliant detective attempting to solve the murder of a woman who went to plan her funeral and was murdered the same day.

What I Liked

The premise of the story of the woman planning her funeral and then being murdered was a great Agatha Christie-style plot, more so than Sherlock Holmes. Yet the writing arrangement of Horowitz as Watson and Hawthrone as Holmes works reasonably well, even if Hawthorne is more prickly and flawed. Lots of different characters to meet. While I figured out several red herrings and had most of the clues assembled at the end, I didn’t quite interpret them the way the final answer is given.

What I Didn’t Like

There are three things in the story that bothered me. First and foremost, Horowitz has inserted himself as the narrator as if the premise is real. It’s a bit gimmicky, but if you ignore that, and treat it as if it was a fictionalized person, the premise works okay but not great. Yet, as a result, he pulls in various people he knows in real life, and, of course, they are treated with kid gloves. All positive words, meeting people like Spielberg for instance, so no chance he might be sued. Second, Horowitz or his fictionalized version is downright whiny. He complains about everything. He reads like a self-righteous child in many places. Third, there is a premise introduced very early on, and not only does it not play out the way it was described, the real explanation is done only through assumption and speculation. It didn’t feel like the book played fair with that clue or the character. Equally, the ending has a lot of exposition that implies “this is the only explanation” but there were several other equally plausible solutions.

The Bottom Line

Interesting premise, average mystery, soft ending.

A Spy In The House by Y.S. Lee (2016) – BR00173 (2019) – 🐸🐸🐸🐸🐸

The PolyBlog
December 5 2019

Plot or Premise

An orphan in the mid-1800s is diverted from the gallows to a school for girls, gets her high school education, and graduates to become an operative for a special investigating Agency of women run by the heads of the school.

What I Liked

The story has a very strong “Anne Perry” historical fiction feel to it, but without the constant discussion of Jane Austen-style society. The mystery is solid, the characters are rich, and the investigator — Mary Quinn — is inexperienced, which shows in some of her actions. I didn’t guess the outcome, although I suspected some of it, and the hint of romance improves the flavour as it goes. She is more active than the Anne Perry-style heroines, and it shows as she breaks into various places.

What I Didn’t Like

Her age is a bit distracting as she is 17 passing for 20, which no one really believes.

The Bottom Line

Best mystery I have read all year.

The Burning Edge by Rick Mofina (2012) – BR00172 (2019) – 🐸🐸🐸⚪⚪

The PolyBlog
November 17 2019

Plot or Premise

A woman witnesses an armed robbery at a truck stop, and as the FBI closes in on the robbers, they worry that the woman saw too much.

What I Liked

The story is told from the perspective of four groups — Lisa, the woman who saw the robbers; Jack, a journalist digging for the story; the robbers themselves; and Frank, the FBI agent hunting them. The story jumps from person to person, which is great for seeing the different aspects of the investigation vs. home life. Short chapters, kind of Patterson-style, keep the action moving.

What I Didn’t Like

The short chapters seem a bit too jumpy in places, and the constant PoV shift isn’t even. The journalist is good, but the backstories for the witness and the FBI agent are overkill. Past losses, current illnesses, everything reads a bit more soap opera-ish than mystery novel. And the final motive for the robbery is ridiculous.

Disclosure

I am not personal friends with the author, but I have met him in person at a writers’ group meeting.

The Bottom Line

Well-written but superficial mystery plot.

Unlucky in Law by Perri O’Shaugnessy (2004) – BR00159 (2019) – 🐸🐸🐸⚪⚪

The PolyBlog
April 19 2019

Plot or Premise

Nina Reilly gets a call from her old mentor to sit second-chair on a murder case that started with a grave robbery.

What I Liked

The story that the client tells is surprisingly plausible…he was hired to rob a grave, which he did. Except when he’s caught, the cops go back and check the grave he robbed and find out that there’s now a fresh body in it so he’s charged with murder. It’s a simple twist but there is little doubt through the case that he’s not guilty and that there is “something else” going on. And just to complicate things, her mentor is basically dumping the case on her, has done almost no prep, is showing early signs of dementia, and the PI he hired did almost no work either. Nina has her hands full just as Paul proposes.

What I Didn’t Like

There are two threads running through the story that are less than optimal. First, the premise of the mystery is that the dead body that is stolen is tied to a society of Russian conspiracy theorists who suspect he was tied to the Romanoffs (hey, he’s Russian, he must be, right?). This is about the fourth book I’ve read in the last two years that threw in a Romanoff angle, and it’s not handled that well, although most don’t anyway. Second, the marriage proposal from Paul leads to a bunch of emotional drama and angst, and detracts heavily from the story. It reads more like a bad romance novel than a mystery.

The Bottom Line

Good story with the mentor, but the other stuff detracts.