Tag Archives: novel

Motion to Suppress by Perri O’Shaugnessy (1995) – BR00009 (2001) – 🐸🐸🐸⚪⚪

The PolyBlog
January 21 2001

Plot or Premise

Misty Patterson has problems: an abusive domineering husband and amnesia from her childhood. And now she has a new problem: her husband gets abusive again and she conks him with an Eskimo statue, hard enough seemingly to hurt but not to kill. Then she blacks out. He’s found dead a few days later after having been hit a second time with the same statue and dumped in the lake. And Misty doesn’t know what happened. Enter her lawyer, Nina Reilly, who is newly separated from her husband, newly separated from her neat legal firm, and new to the Lake Tahoe area. And her idea of a perfect introduction to the area is NOT a high-stakes murder case where everyone thinks Misty did it. Maybe even Misty herself.

What I Liked

The Lake Tahoe community comes alive as do some of the characters — Nina, herself; Misty; and Nina’s assistant. Lots of interesting facts about the area and the impact of the lake on a dead body. Well-written, all the characters are real, and adequately developed for the story. In fact, it’s an impressive array: Nina’s ex-husband on the peripheries along with her brother, sister-in-law, and Nina’s son; Paul, her investigator who’s warm for her form; a string of Misty’s lovers and their very jealous wives and girlfriends; Misty’s parents; and a couple of doctors who are trying to help Misty remember her past. A few loose threads are left for the next story in the “series”, if it does indeed become a series. And, on the legal side, the solution is handled in an interesting courtroom finale that is not like simple Perry Mason reruns. A good beginning for “Perry O’Shaughnessy”, which is a pseudonym for two sisters: Pamela (a lawyer) and Mary O’Shaughnessy (a writer).

What I Didn’t Like

The point-of-view switches from Misty to Nina to Paul in various chapters, and the switch does not really develop Misty’s or Paul’s character enough to justify the switch. Unfortunately, I figured out the three key elements of the “mystery” before the end of the story. Didn’t expect the ending, at least not exactly, but I did expect the “baddie”. There are a couple of places where it is a little heavy on the “legal” side, interpreting case law, which is a likely result of one of the two authors being a lawyer.

The Bottom Line

Should have suppressed some of the legal side.

Where The Bodies Are Buried by Janet Dawson (1998) – BR00007 (2001) – 🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪

The PolyBlog
January 21 2001

Plot or Premise

Private Investigator Jeri Howard is back and she’s lost a client. Rob Lawter comes to Jeri and retains her services, tells her that he’ll brief her later, but then takes a header out of his apartment window — suicide, accident or murder? Jeri investigates and takes a job as a legal secretary (her previous employment) at the company where Rob worked as a paralegal. All she has is a determination to help her now-dead client and an anonymous threatening note he received warning him about “blowing the whistle”. Lots of people enter stage left, and most of them stick around for the duration making it hard for Jeri to pin them down. Was it one of the lawyers? Was it the corporate bigwigs who took over the company in a hostile takeover and are they going to take the company apart piece-by-piece? Was it the plant managers conspiring to hide some terrible secret? Was it the brother-in-law who is trying to convince everyone that Rob committed suicide? And what do Rob’s neighbours know about what happened that night?

What I Liked

There are no super-human powers of deduction shown here by Jeri. She is a plodder — one piece of the puzzle at a time, turning it around and around to see if it fits anywhere. And a lot of the time, she doesn’t know what to do with the pieces and doesn’t try to make them fit anywhere. The writing is up to Dawson’s normal first-rate level and it is particularly interesting to see how Jeri goes about her non-investigating tasks around the office. The office, and the office politics, are made real by describing Jeri’s experiences — all of them, including the rules for working the photocopier. They set the tone for the workplace and most writers would have left them out. Dawson includes them, and the story is better for having them.

What I Didn’t Like

Jeri can be a bit of a dunce at times. Several “clues” leap off the page at the reader, but Jeri misses them, or rather, completely misses their significance — at the time. There are a couple like that, so the reader knows where the story is going when Jeri apparently doesn’t, and it is only to the credit of Dawson’s writing that you don’t say “Hurry up and get there already.” However, at the end, Dawson doesn’t play fair — there are two “clues” that turn everything around for Jeri, the final pieces of the puzzle, and the reader doesn’t get to see them until the solution is revealed. “Foul!”, I cry.

The Bottom Line

Worth digging this one out for a read.

Fire on High by Peter David (1998) – BR00001 (2001) – 🐸🐸🐸⚪⚪

The PolyBlog
January 20 2001

Plot or Premise

This is the sixth book about the U.S.S. Excalibur. This one sheers away from Captain Calhoun and Shelby, and focuses instead on Lefler and the return of her mother. In addition, there are extensive interactions between Selar, Burgoyne, and McHenry, trying to flesh out their characters.

What I Liked

The story is interesting, you get to meet another race, and Soleta has some amazing lines.

What I Didn’t Like

The Lefler storyline could have been far more detailed than it was, or gone into more depth for the relationship with her mother. However, a lot of the book seems to be simply tying up loose ends from previous stories and laying down markers for future ones.

The Bottom Line

Cute ending but not one of the best in the series.

B is for Burglar by Sue Grafton (1985) – BR00128 (2019) – 🐸🐸🐸⚪⚪

The PolyBlog
January 20 2001

Plot or Premise

A sister hires Kinsey to find her estranged sister who seems to have gone missing.

What I Liked

The plot is interesting, as it starts to shape up as quite the mystery. The missing sister, Elaine, supposedly flew to Florida but someone else is staying in her condo there. Everybody has opinions, but no facts as to her whereabouts. And there’s a link to a burglary / homicide that occurred before she disappeared. Stolen identities, missing cats, firecracker old ladies, multiple clients and Jonah too?

What I Didn’t Like

A good portion of the novel is kind of muddy, with Kinsey blundering along, showing no real signs of any insight or deduction, just plodding along, with the mystery having to go at her pace too. None of the “drama” from the secondary characters tends to add any real intensity to the story, and many of the people just come off as lame.

The Bottom Line

Stealing someone’s identity is one thing, living their life is another

Red Sector by Diane Carey (1999) – BR00002 (2001) – 🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪

The PolyBlog
January 20 2001

Plot or Premise

This is the third of six books dealing with biological terrorism by an unknown foe. This novel focuses heavily on two known characters (a great portrayal of Spock and an annoying version of McCoy), and introduces a really interesting character — Ensign Eric Stiles. Stiles is assigned to evacuate Spock and friends from a planet in turmoil, but Stiles gets captured during the otherwise successful mission. Subsequent imprisonment for four years has a definite effect on Stiles and he establishes a strong bond with a fellow prisoner, Zevon. Fast forward several years and the biological terrorist has attacked the Romulans. The Romulans can’t save themselves…perhaps the Federation can help?

What I Liked

I am not a die-hard sci-fi fan, but I do like Star Trek and Star Wars. This is a great story, and Stiles is a fantastic character. Definitely the best addition to the series so far, not surprising given Carey’s strong ties to the Starfleet universe!

What I Didn’t Like

My complaints related to characterization for the previous two books are not as strong here, but McCoy is a bit annoying.

The Bottom Line

Best of the first three in the series.