Tag Archives: police

Perilous Friends by Carole Epstein (1996) – BR00063 (1999) – 🐸⚪⚪⚪⚪

The PolyBlog
February 5 1999

Plot or Premise

Barbara Simons is a newly unemployed airline exec with nothing to do. Bored, she jumps at a chance to help her fabulous friends with their problems — an ex-husband hiding money or uncovering a smuggling ring.

What I Liked

Better written than Reichs’ books in the same setting, and the overall story is interesting.

What I Didn’t Like

I hated most of this book — every character is one of life’s beautiful people, all wealthy, all extremely ravishing or handsome, and all amazingly beautiful, perky, effective at turning men’s heads deliberately and/or accidentally, and supposedly downright nice…not nice enough that you like them, but Barbara obviously thinks everyone else does.

But Barbara isn’t any better — she’s supposed to be this amazing go-getter businesswoman but she has been wallowing in self-pity for six weeks. She goes to fancy parties with the elites, but can’t relate to the average guy behind the counter at the 7-11 without going off on some trip. And while the story is interesting, the ending feels like it wraps everything up in a whirlwind 3 pages.

Finally, a small spoiler, there is a small sub-plot that ends on a “to be continued” basis, kind of like Evanovich does regularly with the Stephanie Plum series. I hate that with a passion — I like some resolution, even if there is an ongoing storyline.

Disclosure

I was not personal friends with the author, but I did interact with her briefly on social media.

The Bottom Line

Hate the characters, okay story.

The Dead Pull Hitter by Alison Gordon (1988) – BR00061 (1999) – 🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪

The PolyBlog
February 3 1999

Plot or Premise

Dead Pull Hitter feels like it picks up where Gordon’s non-fiction left off: the Toronto Titans have finished in fourth place the previous year and are starting to pull it together for a pennant race; the protagonist Kate Henry is a woman sportswriter who’s covered them for five years; she works for the Toronto Planet which is sandwiched in the news market between the stodgy World and the bimbette-littered pages of the Mirror. At times it was hard to remind myself that this was the fiction category!

What I Liked

The fun doesn’t really take off until after the first body arrives. Up until then, it is basically a baseball story. After that, the murder mystery takes hold. The clues are there for the finding: some obvious, others more subtle. Nicely written, and combines the baseball storylines with an appropriate emphasis on the mystery. And the cop-as-a-romantic-partner and mystery-antagonist-theme is alive and well in the book.

What I Didn’t Like

The start on the baseball story gives you a fairly large cast of characters that may be easy for a baseball fan to keep straight (i.e. player X is a catcher), but the names all seemed to run together for me. The baseball players also seem to have an enormously large and direct role in Kate’s life, which doesn’t seem to fit with her being a member of the objective sports press that covers them regularly.

Disclosure

I was not personally friends with the author, but I did interact briefly with her online.

The Bottom Line

Nice start to the series

The Closet Hanging by Tony Fennelly (1987) – BR00068 (1998) – 🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪

The PolyBlog
July 4 1998

Plot or Premise

The supposed suicide of a land developer is complicated by some details that suggest murder, and spells trouble for Sinclair since he was recently seen having a large argument with the deceased. Unfortunately for Matt, he can’t remember the details because they have been wiped out by an epileptic seizure and the developer is found in a building owned by Matt’s mother. Matt investigates, partly to find out for himself what really happened.

What I Liked

Better written than the first one, including a much better quality of appropriate humour and the extra characters from the mob are well done, adding some interesting albeit tiny twists.

What I Didn’t Like

Slightly more graphic than the first, the plot is somewhat convoluted, and there is too much attention paid to Matt’s personal life which is too far removed from the mystery. The ending is rather disappointing from such a good writer.

Disclosure

I am not personal friends with the author, but I have interacted briefly with them on social media.

The Bottom Line

Great writing and fast-paced story

1-900-DEAD by Tony Fennelly (1996) – BR00070 (1998) – 🐸🐸🐸⚪⚪

The PolyBlog
July 4 1998

Plot or Premise

Margo Fortier, gossip columnist and snoop extraordinaire, knows a recent murder victim, thus giving Margo another shot to write some real news. The victim was a fake psychic that Margo met in astrology class.

What I Liked

Margo’s relationship with Julian is refreshingly moved out of the house and into the outside world as Julian chauffeurs her around. I liked the novel despite the fact that I didn’t particularly care who-did-it, mostly because the behind-the-scenes look at the world of the psychics is so well done and interesting. There’s a cute little twist at the end as well. I also loved numerous little quotes that made me laugh out loud.

What I Didn’t Like

The plot is a little confusing at times trying to keep all the characters straight (no pun intended).

Disclosure

I am not personal friends with the author, but I have interacted with her on social media.

The Bottom Line

Well-written.

The Hippie in the Wall by Tony Fennelly (1994) – BR00069 (1998) – 🐸🐸🐸⚪⚪

The PolyBlog
June 4 1998

Plot or Premise

Margo Fortier is a gossip columnist who longs to write real news. Her first break pops when a hippie corpse from 20 years before is pulled out of a wall of a bar she worked at when she was young but far from innocent. Since she knows all the players from the time, she helps investigate along with the cop from the Sinclair novels.

What I Liked

A decent portrayal of characters who happen to be gay as opposed to caricatures of gay people, and the story never drags. The ending is nicely done as well.

What I Didn’t Like

More careful attention could have been paid to the real plot, as it is sometimes convoluted and hard to keep track of all the characters. Readers are also expected to believe that the main seven characters all still live in New Orleans twenty years later, even though they were all transiting through New Orleans 20 years before. Finally, Margo is a little too smug perhaps in the way she handles her first killer, one who has already killed two people.

Disclosure

I am not personal friends with the author, but I have interacted with her on social media.

The Bottom Line

Decent story