Customer Reviews

Dead Silver: A Novel

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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

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

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.

I had really looked forward to reading "Dead Silver" after finishing Lone Creek, the first Hugh Davoren mystery written by McMahon. "Lone Creek" was everything I look for when I read for enjoyment and I hoped McMahon's second Hugh Davoren novel would follow in the same pattern.

It was very good but it didn't have that special spark that "Lone Creek" had. The descriptions of Montana which had so captured my imagination the first time around were lukewarm in "Dead Silver". Now, don't get me wrong. Even though not as good as "Lone Creek", this story was still much better than most mysteries written today. The characters of Hugh and Madbird are engaging, just not as fleshed out this time. The side characters aren't as developed either. But all in all, well worth reading.

Hugh Davoren and his sidekick, Madbird, return, after having made their debut in Lone Creek. Set against the Big Sky and vistas of Montana, the men are drawn into an investigation of a past double homicide when Renee Callister returns to Helena after an absence of many years to bury her father. The homicides were of the father's sexy young wife and a lover in a cabin miles away from Helena, and the husband was suspected but never arrested for the murders.

Renee believes her father was innocent and asks Hugh to help discover the truth. The list of suspects begins to mount up as the two begin looking into the past with the help of the Sheriff. Along the way, Hugh and Renee become involved, which of course raises questions as to his judgment. And the dangers increase as his efforts regarding the past go on, and he has to keep dodging bullets.

The writing is tense and the descriptions of the wide open country are graphic. The plot progresses, with the reader unaware of red herrings along the way, leading up to an unanticipated conclusion. Recommended.

This is one of the best books I have read. I like all of the books I read.
This is the reluctant hero, everyday, everybody sort of guy. He is thrust into a series of events that takes him back to another time and place. 20 years later he finds the girl that makes his heart go pitter patter and it is such an event that he wants to change himself. He wants to clean up, and fix up himself and his house/living arrangements.
But the reluctant hero has to save his new found love, and the tainted image of her father, who past aay with a cloud of controversy about the death of his second wife.
But to add more to he story his friend and partner's niece has disappeared. She has been swept up into the whole controversy.
The characters seem so real and so much like someone we all know. I love the way he describes Montana also. I would love to at least visit Helena, and Missoula after reading his description of them. In fact Helena sounds like a town I would love to live in.
This is a great book, I have only read one other one, it was his first one. It was good also. I think he just jumped to the top of my list of favorite authors.
If you like Action Mystery with Romance and Comedy, and I think just good writing You Must Read This Book / Author

Wow!

That is the only thing I can say about the new McMahon thriller.

The characters, the plot and "urban" Montana in all its glorious splendor all work seamlessly to bring this mystery to life.

No detail seems too small to escape the author's note and yet each helps paint a vivid picture for the complex series of plots that weave in and out on their way to an unexpected (but well laid) ending.

The working class "heros" in this book, in addition to being involved in a murder, raise many questions about land use, urban sprawl, and how the "average" man is forced to deal with these large questions that face us all.

I opened this book and I did not put it down until I had finished it. As a mystery it was superb, but it also called into question issues that made me stop and think. I only hope I do not have to wait too long for McMahon's next novel. (This book is too good to simply call it a mystery!)

Richard Merriman