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DARK WATERS: A MACY ADAMS MYSTERY, by Sibylle Barrasso.
Cover Copy: When the body of a prominent Boston professor, the nation's foremost AIDS expert, washes up on the banks of the Charles, it's news. When the forensic evidence reveals the professor had been zonked out on Valium before drowning and the M.E. rules the case a homicide, it becomes the front-page lead story . But when Browne's diminutive widow is arrested for murder, and juicy details of their marriage are made public, the result is a media frenzy.
Macy Adams is the private eye Evelyn Browne hires to save her from spending a life sentence in prison. But the more Macy finds out about the relationship between the widow and her deceased husband, the more she questions her client's innocence. There is the couple's trial separation, the husband's many affairs, the fact that Evelyn had drugged her husband with Valium before. And lastly there is the two-million-dollar life insurance that names Evelyn sole beneficiary - a policy allegedly taken out without the deceased's knowledge.
As Macy delves into Mitchell Browne's private life, she uncovers more hidden skeletons. By all accounts, Mitchell Browne wasn't a nice person. Besides rumors of financial fraud and irregularities with his AIDS research, there is a disillusioned mistress, a misunderstood son, and a brother cheated out of an inheritance. Then Macy discovers a dark secret about Browne's life that is more shocking than anything she could have imagined.
Macy's troubles escalate as she continues to tread on people's toes. A killer suddenly feels threatened, as Macy gets dangerously close to the truth. Instead of being the hunter, Macy better watch out -- lest she end up like Browne, a lifeless corpse beneath dark waters.
A fast-paced private eye novel, the suspense of this whodunit will keep the reader hooked until the final page.
Gender of detective: female
On the one hand: this is set in Boston. Yay!
On the other hand: it does not ping against my own picture of Boston at all, nor convey the feeling of time-space snapshot. Boo! (And it had a couple of seeming bloopers: to be honest, if there's a tabloid-style photographer lurking outside someone's home, I'd think they were from the Boston Herald before the Boston Globe.)
On the third, and probably most important hand: despite the above, I enjoyed this book. The puzzle elements are as carefully stacked as a game of Jenga. There are enough personal elements to make everyone a person, but not so many that they overwhelmed the puzzle elements. I actually liked the heroine. And possibly most important of all, the Big Secret mentioned on the cover was not either that the victim was gay nor that he was HIV positive. (But it was still big enough that it was believable as a Big Secret, so to speak.)
*
Mariposa is pestering Kris rather than either of the typists. This is right and proper. Although maybe she should go pester Stef, who is drifting out to sleepies at a noticable rate.
Team Mariposa, Blogathon 2010. Last few chances to sponsor me!
Cover Copy: When the body of a prominent Boston professor, the nation's foremost AIDS expert, washes up on the banks of the Charles, it's news. When the forensic evidence reveals the professor had been zonked out on Valium before drowning and the M.E. rules the case a homicide, it becomes the front-page lead story . But when Browne's diminutive widow is arrested for murder, and juicy details of their marriage are made public, the result is a media frenzy.
Macy Adams is the private eye Evelyn Browne hires to save her from spending a life sentence in prison. But the more Macy finds out about the relationship between the widow and her deceased husband, the more she questions her client's innocence. There is the couple's trial separation, the husband's many affairs, the fact that Evelyn had drugged her husband with Valium before. And lastly there is the two-million-dollar life insurance that names Evelyn sole beneficiary - a policy allegedly taken out without the deceased's knowledge.
As Macy delves into Mitchell Browne's private life, she uncovers more hidden skeletons. By all accounts, Mitchell Browne wasn't a nice person. Besides rumors of financial fraud and irregularities with his AIDS research, there is a disillusioned mistress, a misunderstood son, and a brother cheated out of an inheritance. Then Macy discovers a dark secret about Browne's life that is more shocking than anything she could have imagined.
Macy's troubles escalate as she continues to tread on people's toes. A killer suddenly feels threatened, as Macy gets dangerously close to the truth. Instead of being the hunter, Macy better watch out -- lest she end up like Browne, a lifeless corpse beneath dark waters.
A fast-paced private eye novel, the suspense of this whodunit will keep the reader hooked until the final page.
Gender of detective: female
On the one hand: this is set in Boston. Yay!
On the other hand: it does not ping against my own picture of Boston at all, nor convey the feeling of time-space snapshot. Boo! (And it had a couple of seeming bloopers: to be honest, if there's a tabloid-style photographer lurking outside someone's home, I'd think they were from the Boston Herald before the Boston Globe.)
On the third, and probably most important hand: despite the above, I enjoyed this book. The puzzle elements are as carefully stacked as a game of Jenga. There are enough personal elements to make everyone a person, but not so many that they overwhelmed the puzzle elements. I actually liked the heroine. And possibly most important of all, the Big Secret mentioned on the cover was not either that the victim was gay nor that he was HIV positive. (But it was still big enough that it was believable as a Big Secret, so to speak.)
*
Mariposa is pestering Kris rather than either of the typists. This is right and proper. Although maybe she should go pester Stef, who is drifting out to sleepies at a noticable rate.
Team Mariposa, Blogathon 2010. Last few chances to sponsor me!