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Index Interviews: Mothers Who Write: Amy Bloom Strangers in the Write The Problems of Ebook Publishing: Part II No Excess Baggage: An Authors' Roundtable Discussion Upcoming Events Calendar Return to This Issue's Index Return to Homepage Subscribe
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Mystery/Thriller Book ReviewsPage One of ThreeA Better Class of Murder by Joyce ChristmasBallantine, Dec., 2000.Paperback, 288 pages. ISBN: 0449150135. Ordering information: Amazon.com. | Amazon.co.uk 
Mystery author Joyce Christmas is the creator
of two popular amateur sleuths: the elegant
Lady Margaret Priam, who solves crimes while
navigating the upper social circles of Manhattan
society, and Betty Trenka, a retired office manager
who lives in East Moulton, Connecticut. In A Better
Class of Murder, these two very different (and both
quite fascinating) amateur sleuths meet up in
New York to solve the murder of a mysterious
woman found strangled on a foggy beach. Betty's
neighbor, Ted Kelso, hires Betty to go to Manhattan
to size up computer billionaire Gerald Toth, who
wants to hire Ted to vet his latest software invention.
Lady Margaret has been asked to help introduce
Betty to the social scene while Betty is in town to do
business with Toth, and the two become friends.
But as Betty enjoys the high life in Manhattan,
she also becomes an unwitting target for a killer
who isn't interested in having his crimes come to light.
Fans of the both the Betty Trenka and the Lady Margaret Priam mystery series are going to be in heaven with Joyce Christmas' latest mystery offering. The styles of the two sleuths blend perfectly: Betty's no-nonsense approach and Margaret's elegant deductions make for entertaining reading. As always, the dialogue is quick and witty and Christmas' dissection of the Manhattan social scene is dead on. Highly recommended. --Claire E. White Born Bad by Barry HoffmanLeisure Books, Nov., 2000.Paperback, 392 pages. ISBN: 0843947934. Ordering information: Amazon.com. | Amazon.co.uk 
Homicide detective Ariel Dampier is assigned to
a puzzling case. Within a short period of time, three
co-eds at the University of Pennsylvania are found
dead -- apparently suicides. But there is one student
who seems to have known all the suicides: Shanica Williams.
Shanica, a freshman, was a crack baby whose mother
died while giving birth to her. Shanica was literally
"born bad".
Born Bad is a taut, complex psychological thriller which explores the mind of a most unusual serial killer. Homicide detective Ariel Damper is a compelling and complex woman who ends up in a cat and mouse game with the killer, while dealing with the baggage of being the daughter of a racially mixed couple, as well as having to work with her ex-husband on the murder investigation. Hoffman does a marvelous job of getting inside the minds of his characters, and his pacing is excellent. This is not your average serial killer book at all; it's fresh, unique and loaded with suspense. Even if you usually prefer cozies, you're sure to find Born Bad quite intriguing. Highly recommended. Claire E. White Mystery Reviews Page One | Page Two | Page Three Click Here to Return to the Book Reviews Index ** To visit the archives of mystery books reviewed in The IWJ, please click here. |