5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Enjoyable read, but. . ., July 31, 2000
There are a lot of plusses to this book: great sense of place; some very clever wordplay; an engaging, imperfect heroine; an intriguing storyline. Unfortunately, problems with pacing and structure detracted me from being able to lose myself in BACKSTAB as much as I might otherwise have done, or to give it an unqualified recommendation.
Using conversation to convey information to the reader is certainly a viable storytelling device; having characters talking at great length about things one or both already knows, however, can come off sounding contrived. Ms. Viets uses this device quite a bit, unfortunately to the exclusion of more actual real-time scenes, where we get to see characters in conflict with each other. In other words, there's a lot of chit-chat, and not a whole lot of action, which strains the pacing. I was also aware of a lot of repetition -- the same information kept being served up in different ways -- which became tedious after a while. And her habit of telling us what had happened, then backtracking and filling us in on what led up to the event, was, at times, disconcerting. I, too, figured out the killer much too easily, in part because there weren't sufficient red herrings to keep me off-balance. And when the reader figures out whodunit before the protagonist does, that tends to make the protagonist seem a bit dull-witted, which Francesca certainly isn't.
Granted, many of the aspects of the book which bothered me won't even faze other readers. And I certainly liked what I read well enough to try another one of her books. I had just hoped for something a bit more focused.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Funny, great sense of place, August 15, 2000
By A Customer
This is the secone Elaine Viets mystery I've read (Rubout was the first) and I've enjoyed them both. She's great at establishing a sense of place, and since that place is my hometown of St. Louis, I was especially drawn into the story. There were a couple flaws, though: Why does the heroine wonder if a guy stabbed in the back was murdered? Obviously he was murdered, since I can't imagine anyone committing suicide by stabbing themselves in the back. The book's editor needed to clarify that the heroine, Francesca, thought the victim hadn't been killed in a routine robbery. But that's not the only editor's mistake I've seen in all sorts of books -- not by a long shot! Anyway, if you enjoy savvy women detectives, funny writing, and plenty of atmosphere, you won't be disappointed by Backstab.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Death Of A Friend, November 14, 2004
Francesca Vierling, 37 year old columnist for the St. Louis City Gazette, didn't think anything could go wrong with her latest column, covering the Miss American Gender Bender Pageant for female impersonators.
There weren't any problems with the contest, except that one of the contestants, calling herself Maria Callous, a runner up the previous year, didn't show up.
Francesca wasn't too happy when her editor killed the column, deciding that gender bender beauty contests were not right for their paper.
Rita, a retired reader tips off Francesca about a murder of what appeared to be a transsexual prostitute. Rita wondered if this murder was connected to a previous murder of another transsexual prostitute.
Then Francesca hears about the murder of Burt, elderly owner of Burts bar a local landmark. Francesca had just been in Burt's Bar, with Ralph, a building rehaber who was also the source that managed to get her into the Miss Gender Bender contest.
Then Ralph ends up dead, dying from an asthma attack while working on a house, without any of his asthma breathalizers with him.
What is going on? Could these deaths all be connected? Mark Mahew, the detective certainly doesn't think so, but Francesca is determined to find out who killed her friends and who was the dead prostitute and did her death have anything to do with Burt & Ralph's death?
Highlights:
The mystery. The killer turned out to be a surprise, I had picked someone else out as the killer.
Mark Mayhew, the happily married detective who is a good friend, but trying to keep Francesca out of the crime proves a losing battle.
Marlene, the waitress at Uncle Bob's Pancake House, Francesca's favorite dining place. Marlene knows everyone and everything. Gives good advice, which Francesca never listens to and a great friend.
Humor. This book has some very funny moments.
Lowlights:
I didn't find Francesca a very likable person. She treats her boyfriend, Lyle Donnegan, college professor horribly. She had a terrible childhood, her mother ended up killing her father over his infidelities and then herself. I think some therapy would do her good.
St. Louis City Gazette Staff. Everyone from Hadley Harris III, managing editor, to Charlie and even Georgia, who Francesca considers her mentor are obnoxious, awful people. I wouldn't be friends with any of them. Francesca isn't friends with them either, but how you can work at a place where you hate everyone is beyond me.
The fact that Francesca, who has a talent, and could take her writing skills anywhere, would continue to work for this horrible paper with these horrible people, is one of the reasons I find her so unlikable.
Does everyone have to be quirky and eccentric?
Overall, not a very good book. But then I didn't like her first book in her Dead End Job series either, but the second book turned out to be great.
The writing is so good, that even with these problems, the mystery keeps you interested and makes you want to go onto the next book.
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