2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Neil McMahon has the goods, in spades and then some, August 18, 2008
There are many reasons to pick up and read DEAD SILVER: author Neil McMahon's dead-on, masterful plotting; the very occasional side trails his narrative takes, for comic relief; his true-to-life characters; and his colorful turns of phrase. There are others, but I don't want to spoil all the fun of finding them yourself.
DEAD SILVER is the second of McMahon's Hugh Davoren novels, the successor to 2007's wonderful LONE CREEK. Set in rustic Helena, Montana, the novel opens with Davoren still troubled by the events that took place at the conclusion of the first book, though for the most part he has moved beyond them. A local death, however, draws him into the orbit of a former acquaintance. Professor John Callister was a figure of local legend, respected for the most part but tarnished by being a suspect in the double murder several years ago of his wife and her lover. Callister, never charged in the case, had lived his life quietly before dying in a managed care facility. His daughter, Renee, has returned to Helena for the funeral and to make decisions about her father's home, which has fallen into disarray under the dubious caretaking of a distant relative. Renee hires Davoren and Madbird, Davoren's laboring partner, to undertake repairs and restoration to the property.
However, Renee also wants Davoren to launch a clandestine investigation into the murders of her stepmother and her paramour to irrevocably clear her father's name. The impetus for Renee is her discovery of a cache of pornographic pictures (with her stepmother in a starring role) and a distinctive antique earring. As Davoren is drawn into his investigation, he discovers no lack of suspects, ranging from the owner of a defunct silver mine who might possibly be motivated by revenge to a father and son team of lowlife squatters.
The trail also slowly dovetails into a concern of Madbird's, whose wild child niece, Darcy, is involved in an adulterous affair with a state representative whose past may not be as pristine as he presents it to be. Meanwhile, Davoren finds his involvement with Renee becoming more and more complicated by the intermingling of their professional and developing personal relationship, even as his investigation draws them both deeper into danger.
DEAD SILVER will solidify Neil McMahon's position on the must-read list of any reader already familiar with LONE CREEK. This guy has the goods, in spades and then some. Given that he leaves one issue (possibly two) unresolved at the conclusion, the follow-up hopefully will be coming sooner rather than later.
--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
superb investigative thriller, June 15, 2008
After two decades away, Renee Callister comes home to Helena, Montana to bury her disgraced father John. She is just about the only person who believes her dad did not kill his second wife Astir or her lover as assumed by just about everyone else.
While going through the estate, Renee finds photographs of Astrid posing nude, which she believes are clues to the cold case homicides. She contacts her friend former journalist Hugh Davoren asking for his help. Although he insists he is a carpenter in partnership with his friend Blackfoot Indian Madbird, he reluctantly agrees especially when he sees how beautiful Renee is; he hides from her his motive and his belief that her dad did the double homicides in a fit of rage.
DEAD SILVER is a superb investigative thriller starring strong characters including Big Sky Country. Hugh's inquiries are fun to follow as they are cleverly designed with red herrings, dead ends, and danger, but his motive makes him human. Madbird has his woes too in a supporting role. Neil McMahon provides an engaging low key cold case investigation that will send readers seeking the previous collaboration between Davoren-Madbird (see LONE CREEK).
Harriet Klausner
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Just so-so is not how I want to feel about a novel., April 9, 2011
As a reader I never know quite what to expect when I begin a novel by an author who is new to me. The premise had to sound good or I probably would never have decided to read the book in the first place. In this instance, the style of writing by Neil McMahon was not what I am looking for in a mystery novel. I expect character development to take place, but I also want to have action taking place at the same time. I read all the way to page 153 before I got any action by this lead character besides tearing down dry wall, pulling up floors, and cleaning up pack rat leavings on a clean up job he had undertaken. That pace of plot movement turned out to be entirely too slow for me. I never was able to find anything especially interesting about Hugh Davoren, even his physical description doesn't seem to have made an impression on me. I liked the character of Madbird, Hugh's Native American friend, but he didn't play much of a part in trying to unravel this cold case of double homicide.
Another aspect of this novel I was looking forward to was having it set in Montana. Once again, not enough descriptions of the landscape to fire my imagination. For some reason the descriptions of both people and places rang shallow for me and none of the story, even the romance between Hugh and Renee Callister, kept me wanting to turn the pages. I finished the book simply because I had absolutely no idea how the author was going to bring the story to a satisfactory conclusion. Turns out, for me, he didn't. I didn't like having Hugh Davoren suddenly have a flash of insight to point him to the guilty person. It really didn't make any sense to me.
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