Crime School (Charnwood Library) [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Carol O'Connell (Author)

Book Description

Series: Charnwood Library | Publication Date: July 1, 2003

On a hot afternoon, in an East Side apartment, a woman is found hanged. Carefully placed red candles and an enormous quantity of dead flies suggest some sort of bizarre ritual. By some cruel miracle, the victim lives, but remains in a coma...Kathy Mallory does not recognise her immediately. Fifteen years have passed since Kathy lived on the streets of New York, succored by hookers and thieving to survive. Now she has traded in her plastic pellet gun for a 357 revolver and a police badge. No one is allowed to call her Kathy anymore - just Mallory. Once upon a time, a junkie whore and police informer, known simply as Sparrow, had cared for a young street urchin when she was lost and alone. Now, Mallory finds that she is staring her in the face, as she pursues a case which also has in origin in an unsolved murder committed years ago...

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Mallory, the feral street urchin adopted by an understanding police detective, grew up to be a tough, formidable cop herself, and in the five earlier thrillers featuring her exploits, Carol O'Connell has dropped few clues about her early life. Crime School fills in the blanks with this complex tale about Mallory's efforts to solve the attempted murder of the knife-wielding prostitute who once sheltered and later betrayed her--a copycat crime nearly identical to another that occurred two decades ago. Fans of this series and its unique, complicated, steely protagonist will welcome O'Connell back to the bestseller lists after a protracted absence, while those who've been waiting for the emergence of a kinder, gentler Mallory, able to return the affections of those who love her--like Charles Butler, the quirky criminologist whose unrequited adoration of Mallory knows no bounds, and her partner, Riker, who's known her since his old friend Markowitz plucked her off the streets--may be disappointed. --Jane Adams --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

In this seventh gripping entry in O'Connell's popular Mallory series, Special Crimes investigator Kathy Mallory again prowls the mean streets of New York, digging deeper into her past even as she and her cohorts ferret out a grisly serial killer. Each novel in the series reveals a little more about the utterly improbable and compellingly mythic life story of its protagonist, a tough cop and computer ace raised by hookers on the streets of New York. In this installment, Mallory's particular mentor, the prostitute Sparrow, is found partially scalped, hanging in a room decorated with jars of dead flies an M.O. that recalls a murderer from decades ago. The grim murder plot is offset by a cast of cartoony characters, ranging from series regular Charles Butler, Mallory's gentle giant best friend, to the rookie yellow-haired detective Ronald Deluthe, aka Duck Boy. O'Connell illuminates these oddballs with her lightly whimsical prose: "When Charles closed his tired eyes, he saw a tiny thief who ran with whores and lived by guile, surviving on animal instinct to get through the night an altogether admirable child." The side puzzle, a bibliomystery involving a series of pulp Westerns that obsessed Mallory as a girl, almost steals the show when it is solved. This novel is gritty, streetwise, funny and sure to bring in more fans for the still-enigmatic Mallory.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Ulverscroft Large Print Books Ltd; Large Print edition edition (July 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0708948855
• ISBN-13: 978-0708948859
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another hit in the Mallory series, September 19, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Crime School: A Mallory Novel (Hardcover)

This 6th in the series (following Mallory's Oracle, The Man Who Cast Two Shadows, Killing Critics, Stone Angel, and (for me)the disappointing Shell Game)expands the character and pysche of the troubled Sgt. Kathleen Mallory. This borderline pysocopath/sociopath cop battles her own personal demons of murder, betrayal, and revenge as she sets out to stop a serial killer. The similarities between the killer and the cop are both subtle and striking. We learn more about her twisted childhood and her relationship with Riker and Charles Butler. I thought this book was a fascinating portrayal of a very disturbing woman. The story was fast-paced and very suspenseful. I suggest that readers finish the earlier volumes in the series to better understand Mallory's background.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another haunting Mallory mystery, May 2, 2005

By 

Laurie Fletcher "Laurie Fletcher" (Casper, Wyoming, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Crime School (Kathleen Mallory Novels) (Paperback)

What is it about Carol O'Connell's Kathy Mallory series? Kathy Mallory is about the least sympathetic heroine of any genre...a genuine anti-anti-anti heroine. And O'Connell's writing is moody and rough - kind of like its places-you've-never-been-in-New York setting. These are never easy reads and yet I can't put them down, especially Crime School. I think it may be because I like Charles Butler and Detective Riker so very much. And because they love Mallory despite everything. And because I want her to finally pay attention to Charles (which she never will). As usual, O'Connell's plots fly all around the past and present and you have to hang on for dear life. And, as usual, you end up wanting to know more. But isn't that the hallmark of a good book? I still think that O'Connell's best book was the standalone (not of the Mallory series) "Judas Child", wherein again she specializes in wounded characters. Who knows where these twisted humans come from in Carol O'Connell's brain, but she certainly does give them convincing life.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mallory's world is *always* fascinating- a winner!, July 20, 2003

By 

"lynkfri13" (Waltham, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Crime School: A Mallory Novel (Hardcover)

*~*~*~*~*
*
Mallory (don't call her "Kathy" if you want to live), is a unique detective hero. She's an NYPD "Special Crimes" Detective, who makes her own rules, takes no hostages, and can make you believe she'd kill for her own sense of justice.

~ * ~ Mallory was taken in at age 10 ?? by an NYPD cop, who found her as a tough street kid, apparently a "throwaway". In earlier novels she is eerily without the type of "consicence" we recognize though we can sympathize with her ruthless pursuit of justice, especially in avenging her foster father's death.

In the novel, "Stone Angel", we learned a little about how she came to live on the New York streets.

In this story we learn more about her life on the streets, when a prostitute is found hanged at an arson scene. Riker, Mallory
s partner, a friend of Mallory's father, recognizes the victim as a woman who once gave sporadic shelter and comfort to Mallory as a child.

Mallory has a score to settle with the victim, but she is no less driven to find the killer, terrorizing firefighters and rookie detectives,and walking right over supervising officers's command.

This entry was wonderful for the haunting, yet strangely compelling back story of that illuminates the child Kathy's quest for a sense "home" and "comfort" with the prostitutes, drug dealers, and theives on the streets.

Supporting cast Detective Riker, and genius consultant Charles Butler are written very well, and their dedication to a strange blend of love, healthy fear, and protectiveness of Mallory is just wonderful.

I recommend "Stone Angel" as a companion to the story, together, they offer a wonderful portrait of our herione.