Customer Reviews

Booked for Murder

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(2)

 

 

The AP wire reported that in London, Penny Varnavides, author of the popular Darkliner series, died when a bottle of beer exploded and a piece of glass cut her carotid artery. In California, Penny's friend Lindsay Gordon is stunned by the news.

Not long after hearing the news, a mutual friend, Penny's former lover Meredith Miller, sends an emissary from London to California pleading with Lindsay to come to England. Meredith believes she is the prime suspect in the murder of Penny and based on the track record of her amateur sleuth buddy, she thinks Lindsay can prove her innocence. The best-selling author died by means of the same plot device she was using in her latest novel. Three people allegedly knew the contents of the manuscript, including Meredith. Unable to say no, the former journalist travels to London in order to uncover the identity of the real killer because Lindsay cannot believe Meredith could commit such an act.

The fifth Lindsay Gordon novel, BOOKED FOR MURDER, is an entertaining tale that will please fans of the series and sub-genre readers in general. The who-done-it story line is crisp, exciting, and fun due to the female characters and their exchanges. Lindsay retains her brazen yet sort of classy persona and the return of secondary players from previous novels help make London swing. In all her wonderful novels, Val McDermid incorporates social issues into the murder mystery story line so that the audience is educated as well as entertained.

Harriet Klausner

Who would want to kill Penny Varnavides, especially in the exact manner portrayed in her forthcoming novel? Meredith, as Penny's ex-girlfriend, along with Penny's literary agent and editor, were the only three people who new the unique murder method employed in Penny's unpublished book and apparently used in real life on Penny herself. Meredith calls upon Lindsay Gordon to extricate her from suspicion in the glamorous world of London publishing. While encountering publishing industry notables, Lindsay turns up an unsavory mixture of soured relationships, underhanded fraud, and seething rivalries. Booked For Murder is a superb "whodunit" mystery that is riveting reading from first page to last. This is a murder mystery of the first caliber that documents Val McDermid as one of Britain's contemporary masters of the genre.

Bestselling author Penny Varnavides is killed in a unique fashion, much like in her forthcoming novel. Her lover Meredith is suspected of the crime, so their friend Lindsay Gordon returns to Britain to clear Meredith. As Lindsay untangles the web of the British literary world, she alarms the killer who in turn targets her. In her fifth Gordon mystery, McDermid has crafted a marvelous and enchanting book that will keep readers guessing until the final dozen pages. McDermid's take on the literary world is a strong point to the story, as is her characterizations, all of which is why she is one of the best in the mystery field.

I once read an interview with Val McDermid, where she said she strives to make every book better than her last, and it really does show.

Unlike some of the previous Lindsay Gordon novels, this one has bright characters and multiple plotlines. It marks the beginning of the sophistication of Val McDermid.

Being a writer myself, this book had special appeal to me,asit causes one (or, at least me, to think in philosophically based terms). However, even a non-writer can, and will, get enjoyment out of this book.

I couldn't even finish this one. Flimsy story, bad writing, way too much emphasis on being gay and too little on a real story. Helen was so obnoxious no one could put up with her, whatever her sexual persuasion. I was looking forward to a new mystery writer with lots of books in her bag, but think I'll skip this one...

This is my first encounter with a Val McDermid mystery series, and if this book is representative of the balance of the series and her other works, it will be my last. The "mystery" itself - a "whodunit" featuring a murder that mimics the one the dead author had written into her upcoming novel - is not particularly enthralling. McDermid creates neither a sense of place - literary London - nor compelling characterizations. Perhaps it's because she feels most interested in promoting a particular view of the lesbian community to the mainstream reader who happens to pick up the book. The continual caresses, loving thoughts of one character for another,and the positive spin she places on these relationships, seem to be her primary focus. Frankly, there was more interplay and word play about the various characters' lesbianism than there ever was about the primary murder plot, or the various subplots that were also tossed in.

Readers, whatever their personal proclivities, typically want to read a mystery to become engaged with the mystery - to mull over with the "investigator" the clues, to consider motives and opportunities, to be confident that one has detected the killer and to be delighted when hidden clues are later revealed. "Booked for Murder" offers none of those satisfactions. It is that most damning of all books - a boring mystery which, at the end, leaves the reader shrugging off the denouement. Murderer revealed ... and who cares? If you're still awake and reading at that point, you won't.

In Ms. McDermid's 5th mystery in this series, we follow gritty Lindsay Gordon crossing the pond back to London. She is insnared in a diabolical murder. Only 3 people know of Lindsay's own unfinshed novel, which includes a devilish death of a character by a freakish "accident"--an exploding bottle of wheat beer. And when a good friend, Penny, is killed the exact same way--something is now definitely very personal.

I enjoyed this weaving intricate plot. The authoress has a way of expressing lesbian lifestyles without encroaching upon heterosexuals a preachy style that is evident in some books revolving around gays.

A gritty mysterious read with lively charcters.

other reading suggestions: "The Front Runner" by Patricia Nell Warren Thanks for your interest & comments--CDS