The Cop Was White As Snow [Paperback]

Joyce Spizer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1998

Camellia "Mel" Walker, a young California insurance investigator, receives unexpected news that her father, a veteran policeman, is dead. The police think the elder Walker committed suicide, but Mel knows suicide is out of character for her father; her intuition proves justified when she becomes the victim of a mugging and a series of suspicious accidents.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Camellia "Mel" Walker, a young California insurance investigator, receives unexpected news that her father, a veteran policeman, is dead. The police think the elder Walker committed suicide, but Mel knows suicide is out of character for her father; her intuition proves justified when she becomes the victim of a mugging and a series of suspicious accidents. This realistic, suspenseful police procedural, Spizer's third book, capably blends traditional police routine and modern, computer-based sleuthing. Except for a few superficial characters and a brief loss of narrative momentum in the book's last quarter, Spizer displays admirable control of plot mechanics and character development, effectively keeping the reader off balance right to the end. John Rowen

From Kirkus Reviews

Insurance investigator Camellia Walker has an ex-son (hit and run), an ex-husband (adultery), an ex-mother (cancer), and now an ex-father, an Orange County cop who ate his gun on a lonely beach road. But Mel can't believe that Det. William (T-Bone) Walker, who swore he'd take care of her after her mother died, would kill himself the same week as Det. David Frasier did, and she can't believe her father was involved in a scheme to sell the cocaine the Harbour Pointe Police Department had confiscated from the real bad guys. If T-Bone wasn't dealing the department's coke, though, where did his sudden financial security come from? And why would a bunch of gang-bangersbeginning with the two lowlifes who mugged Mel on her visit to the family's crowded gravesitekeep harassing her with phone calls that insist, ``Mel had a daddy cop, he was white as snow, and everywhere that Mel went, the cop was sure to go''? Circling the wagons with her closest friendsT-Bone's old partner Xavier Ramirez, her own partner Johnnie Blake, and promising romantic interest Lucas DonovanMel sets out to uncover the evidence that will tell her whether her father was really white as snow, or simply dealing snow. Real-life shamus Spizer's bumpy debut is long on cop lore and spunk, short on compelling secondary characters. Maybe now that she's got Mel and friends established, she'll fill in some suspects next time. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 298 pages
• Publisher: Intercontinental Pub Inc; First edition (March 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1881164837
• ISBN-13: 978-1881164838
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,533,602 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars I Wanted to Like This Book, May 4, 2001

By 

Mark Baker (Santa Clarita, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Cop Was White As Snow (Paperback)

Mel's life is thrown upside down when her father's body is found on a lonely country road after he committed suicide. But Mel is convinced that he was really murdered for something he knew. And when her life is threatened as she starts the investigation, she concludes she was right.

I really wanted to like this book. The idea of an investigator fictionalizing a case appealed to me. But I was disappointed. The plotting was uneven, sometimes causing me to skim ahead to get back to the story. The characters seemed stiff and I really didn't come to care for any of them. The solution was satisfying, however. With a good editing job, this book could have gone from poor to enjoyable.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Hard Time Finishing It, February 4, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Cop Was White As Snow (Paperback)

How did they ever convince Sue Grafton to make the statement that this author "is a good writer!"? The story doesn't flow and moves along jerkily. I gave this book two stars because I did finish it and there were some entertaining parts of the book. I hope this author takes some classes and hones her writing abilities. I think she has something to contribute to the mystery and police procedural genre.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars West Coast mentality is refreshing, April 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Cop Was White As Snow (Paperback)

What fun it is to enjoy the West Coast mentality. The love of cars, driving on PCH, walking the beach, different friends, locations that you think you know. The story shows paramedics attitudes while working with patients, insight into how police offices really work, causes excitment intowho could have done it, and pleasure that thereare "Good Cops". It is exciting, shows the anticsof the enemy, developes appreciation of the characters attitudes, and leaves the reader with the feeling that "This was a good read." Enjoy.