Mystery/Thriller Book Reviews
Page Four of FourVoid Moon by Michael Connelly
Little Brown, January 2000.Hardcover, 391 pages.
ISBN: 0316154067.
Ordering information:
Amazon.com.
Cassie Black, an ex-con, is lucky to have her job at a
Porsche car dealership, but she just can't shake the
adrenaline fix she get from committing a crime.
She turns to Leo, an old friend and fellow thief,
and asks him to get her another robbery gig. Leo
offers her a high-stakes job robbing
a high roller at the Cleopatra, a Las Vegas
casino and hotel. Unfortunately, this
same hotel is also where disaster struck
for her last time, leaving
her in the slammer and her boyfriend dead.
She takes the job anyway, but
unfortunately things don't go perfectly.
Soon a skillful special investigator
with a nasty mean streak,
hired by the hotel, is hot on her trail.
Michael Connelly, author of Blood Work, Angels Flight and The Poet, turns his attention to casinos, mobsters and the lives of thieves in his latest thriller. Connelly's regular hero Harry Bosch is absent from this novel, but you won't miss him for long. There is still lots of fun to be had with Connelly's take on high-tech thievery and the inner workings of Las Vegas casinos. Connelly, as usual, does a superb job of crafting the characters, especially the vicious villain Jack Karch. Don't miss this latest winner from Connelly.
Who Killed Blanche DuBois? by Carole Bugge
Berkley, Nov., 1999.Paperback, 242 pages.
ISBN: 0425171957.
Ordering information:
Amazon.com.
Claire Rawlings is one of New York's top
mystery editors. Her biggest clients are the
creepy, but bestselling author Willard Hughes
and steel magnolia Blanche Du Bois, who
does her best to imitate every bad cliché of
the grande dame Southern belle. Claire has
also acquired (quite by accident) a
pre-teen ward named Meredith. When Blanche
is murdered, Meredith, who fancies herself
a modern Sherlock Holmes, begins detecting
when she's not consuming copious cups of tea and trays of
Pepperidge Farm Milano cookies.
When the killer strikes again, it's up to Meredith
and an attractive local police detective to
keep Claire from being the next victim.
There are enough suspects to keep you guessing in this charming whodunit, but it is the wonderfully alive characters which set this mystery apart. Claire, the editor who is starting to question everything in her life, and Meredith the incredibly annoying, yet somehow endearing, child are extremely well-done. New York and its environs make an excellent setting for the mystery, and even if you figure out who the murderer is it won't make a bit of difference; this would be an inventive and entertaining tale even if there were no mystery at all.
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