Customer Reviews

Dead of the Day (Thorndike Mystery)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Dead bodies seem to be popping up everywhere in Dead of the Day, the third installment in Karen Olson's series featuring Annie Seymour, a thirty-something crime reporter with the New Haven Herald. (The Herald is a fictional stand-in for the author's one-time employer, the New Haven Register. See my reviews of the first two books in the series, Sacred Cows and Secondhand Smoke.) This time around Annie needs to unravel a complex of crimes that are all somehow connected to New Haven's illegal immigrant population and to, of all things, bee research: the apparent murder of a Hispanic male whose bee-stung body is fished out of the harbor, a drive-by shooting targeting the city's chief of police, a break-in at Annie's mother's house, and so on. It's a complicated story, and Olson does a great job of tying all the threads together without losing readers in the process.

As in previous outings, Annie tries very often to wrangle information from her old boyfriend, Tom Behr, a police detective. And she is again abetted in her reportorial sleuthing by Sinatra-esque private investigator Vinnie DeLucia, whom she's been dating since she and Tom broke up. Vinnie's younger brother Rocco joins the cast of characters this time. He's a bestselling author interested in finding a new story, which gives him an excuse for tagging along with Annie and his big brother when they're out hunting for clues. The threesome form a sort of Scooby Gang, each of them interested in the case for their own reasons. I like the new dynamic.

Annie seems to be perpetually hungry in Olson's series. Her stomach is forever growling or otherwise demanding restaurant fare, so we're given a tour of New Haven's eating establishments while reading--from Sally's Pizza in Wooster Square to Louis' Lunch (home of the hamburger Nazis) to Clark's Dairy (where I used to work!). Olson doesn't concentrate too much on the food itself. There are no sensual descriptions of, say, mozzarella sliding off an oily slice of thin-crust pizza. But the restaurant mentions are part of what roots Olson's novels so very firmly in the New Haven area. Previous installments brought readers to Sleeping Giant State Park and into parts of the Yale campus, and the novels are centered on Wooster Square, Annie's neighborhood. But this time much of the action takes place in Fair Haven, a part of New Haven that lies between the Mill and Quinnipiac rivers. I mention that because I hadn't known it before Olson described Fair Haven in the book. I grew up and have lived most of my life in the New Haven area, yet reading Olson's novels I feel as if I've been skating thoughtlessly across the landscape on my trips to the grocery store and the local Barnes & Noble: Olson's protagonist is far more attuned to the area than I've ever been, both its businesses and its underlying features. Part of what I enjoy about the books is that they are so steeped in their setting.

In Olson's previous outing, the character of Annie was, I thought, a little too hard-boiled: burned out after years of reporting and intrinsically misanthropic to begin with, Annie was bordering on being unlikable with all her curmudgeonliness. It may be my imagination, but this time she seems to have softened up a bit. She's still not sweetness and light, but I'm not complaining anymore.

Here's hoping Olson has a lot more crime in store for New Haven.

-- Debra Hamel

This book was a very welcome edition to the Annie Seymour trilogy created by author Karen E. Olson. Dead of the Day puts the reader right into the heart of New Haven, with all its excitement and lets us trail along with Annie through her most recent adventure.

Thoroughly good read with likable characters and an excellent story line. I now have to find the earlier books and read them too. Great to find another new to me author to enjoy.

The title of Karen E. Olson's newest book, the third in the Annie Seymour Mystery series, refers to the newspaper term for the obits on area residents who have died that day. As the book opens, Annie Seymour, crime reporter for the New Haven Herald, there are two such events: First the body of a man is found floating in the waters of the harbor, parts of his body covered in bee stings [a wildly unimaginable thing in mid-April], while later that day the city's newly-installed police chief is gunned down in front of the Yale Repertory Theatre in a drive-by shooting as he is about to enter the theatre with his wife and his best friend, the assistant chief.

Annie seems particularly well-suited to cover the story, as she had just wrapped up a series of interviews in preparation for a profile of the police chief, an Hispanic with little experience and no known enemies. The police, and Annie, have their work cut out for them.

Annie and her off-again-on-again romance with a private detective, and another with a police detective with whom she broke up when she met the p.i., keep her off balance. Also figuring into the story are her mother, an attorney whose boyfriend happens also to be Annie's publisher; the police chief's wife, a Chinese woman who is a scientist at Yale; a ubiquitous cleaning woman; undocumented workers; Homeland Security; and those darn bees, whose presence recurs at the oddest times, as does that of several characters in the book. Annie thinks "My head was swirling with too much information, too many questions, and not enough answers," and I knew just what she meant. I had difficulty at times keeping the many characters and plot lines straight. But it is an interesting tale with many different things going on at once, in which the reporter's trade is apparently realistically drawn.

This is another entry in the Annie Seymour mysteries which are set in New Haven,Connecticut. As a Connecticut resident I loved reading about all the places that I've been to in New Haven. Annie Seymour is a tough minded journalist who is juggling two boyfriends. The mystery concerns an illegal emmigrant racket which implodes into Annie's personal life in a terrifying way.The book has strong sense of place, is funny and modern. It made me want to read all the books in the series about this investigative journalist. Janet Halsted

Karen E. Olson's character Annie Seymour is fabulously flawed. She is a reporter for a fictional New Haven Ct newspaper and has a great sense of humor AND, self. She has romantic problems, work problems,and someone is trying to kill her. This book is a quick , enjoyable read with murder, mayhem and romance. I love how she inserts real New Haven places into her novels. If you are from New Haven you can try to guess who her characters might be based on. But even if you are not, you will enjoy this book. If you like Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum, you'll love Annie Seymour.Olson writes mysteries realistically. I loved this book. If you are a fan of Rocco's Bakery you will appreciate her mentioning it.

Annie is working on a profile of the new New Haven police chief, Tony Rodriguez, for her paper when he is unceremoniously gunned down in front of a local theatre before she even manages to finish the article. He had seemed like a very `benign' fellow, and Annie is puzzled as to who would want him dead, so of course must begin to dig deeper.

Annie and her new boyfriend Vinnie the private investigator are on the outs after an argument at Christmas, but why is Vinnie's brother Rocco hanging around trying to get them back together? And what is his connection to a mysterious Hispanic girl who also seems tied in some way to a body that was found in the river--and to another body that is found in the trunk of Annie's beloved, battered Civic? And what is Annie's mother's role in the whole grand scheme of things?

Lots of questions, but Annie's a reporter and finding answers is what she does. Oh, and if you remember in my previous reviews of this series I mentioned the `animal' theme--the first book featured cows, the second one chickens. No pigs were found in this book...the theme animal here was...BEES! No, I'm not kidding...and it's an odd role they play, too.

This series has quickly become one of my favorites; I love Annie's brassy, sassy character (with Annie's propensity towards using four-letter words, this is definitely NOT a cozy!) and the secondary characters are also interesting, although Annie's menfolk don't seem to have much depth at this point--all they seem to do is smile enigmatically, kiss energetically and show up at the right time to ask, "Are you all right?" There is definitely some room for growth there. Heh.

There is a `torn between two lovers' element to this book, but for some reason it doesn't `bug' me as it does with some other books--and it SEEMS to be resolved at the end of the book. But then again, I thought it was resolved at the end of the last one too! WhatEVER! I enjoyed this entry in the series--and I'm looking forward to November and Shot Girl.

Annie Seymour is employed by the New Haven, Connecticut's newspaper, The New Haven Herald as a police reporter. She is following a lead after a body comes floating to the surface of the harbor. As she follows leads, she gets deeper and deeper into a scheme that is allowing illegal Mexican immigrants to gain fake green cards.

Annie has two ex's out there, Tom the police officer she quit seeing when she fell hard for Vinny, a private detective. Vinny and her relationship went south over their Christmas plans, and four months later, she still has not spoken to him. When Vinny's brother turns up to shadow her, telling her he is writing a novel about a female reporter and needs background, she finds it suspicious but lets him tag along in hopes of getting to see Vinny again.

As Annie learns more about what she should not know, she has trouble piecing her story together. The plot twists and turns and involves secondary characters that make this an amazingly well written mystery. Annie is complex and emotionally driven; she falls quickly into the plot and needs answers - when someone starts trying to hurt her, she just needs to know more before she can back off. Finding out her mother is involved makes it a more complex situation, and even though she knows it is a bad scene, she still keeps burrowing on.

This is a great read with just enough romance to keep romance readers happy. The mystery is fast paced, well developed and heart wrenching. This reader read this novel straight through, and enjoyed it immensely. Nothing prepared her for whom the villains were, they are complex characters who are not what they seem...

As part of the Annie Seymour Mystery series, this reader was intrigued, and will be searching out more of Karen E. Olson's novels. This is the third in the series, and there is a fourth due out in November 2008, nine months may be long a time to wait for a novel, but I suspect the fourth in this series, SHOT GIRL will be well worth the wait!


Review Courtesy of LoveRomancesandmore

Karen E. Olson's third book is an engaging fun read. I feel the stories are getting better and funnier. I won't repeat the comments on Annie, she is great. Loved the action in the New Haven Herald. Now, when is the next one coming out?

I absolutely loved this book. Karen Olson takes her readers on a non-stop ride with great plot twists. And as exciting as the plot is, the book is truly centered on Annie Seymour herself - a winning combination of tough and vulnerable. There are wonderful sparks in terms of the romantic leads, as well, and intriguing details about life in New Haven.

Reading this gave me a much needed vacation. GREAT STUFF!