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Desert Autumn: A Claire Gray Mystery (Claire Gray Series)
 
 
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Desert Autumn: A Claire Gray Mystery (Claire Gray Series) [Hardcover]

Michael Craft (Author)
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)


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Book Description

Claire Gray Series December 14, 2001
Claire Gray is a much traveled, highly regarded and very successful theatrical director who, in the prime of her career, accepts an offer to head the Theatre Department at Desert Arts College near Palm Springs, California. Funded by enigmatic billionaire, Desert Arts College is a new college with a state of the art facility and a prestigious faculty recruited for its inaugural year. But Claire's start is not particularly auspicious - newly arrived and before the school year has even begun, Claire stumbles across a dead body.

The dead body is the wife of a fellow faculty member, whom Claire agreed to drive home from the airport when he came in from a recruiting trip. Since no good dead goes unpunished, Claire is now on the edges of a homicide investigation. Even though she has a million things to do before the semester starts, Claire just can't seem to leave the murder case alone. Drawing upon her theatrical expertise, including a keen understanding of human nature, plotting, and motivation, Claire sets out to untangle the mystery surrounding the brutal murder. There is, however, a murderer on the loose and if Claire isn't careful and lucky, her debut as a sleuth might well be her final act.


Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In a change of pace from his previous five mysteries featuring gay amateur detective Mike Manning (Boy Toy, etc.), Craft introduces a new protagonist, Claire Gray, in what should prove to be a successful series. Claire, a well-known New York theater director, has accepted the offer of D. Glenn Yeats, computer giant and multimillionaire, to be the theater department chair at Desert Arts College, which Yeats has built in California's Sonoran Desert. Soon after her arrival, Claire picks up a colleague from the airport and, returning to his home, is with him when he discovers the murdered body of his wife. At the behest of Det. Larry Knoll, Clare joins in the investigation. As she uncovers truths about the victim, the suspects and even herself, she is led into personal danger and to the final conclusion, which may be obvious to some readers. Intuitive and imaginative, Claire is a refreshing and complex sleuth, who at age 54 is still trying to work out her relationship with her mother and is a little too easily led into a sexual liaison with a student who is half her age. Interesting secondary characters, such as Glenn Yeats, Larry's brother Grant and Claire's friend Kiki, enhance the story and offer glimpses into the world of artists and of the very rich who inhabit this area of California. But it is the vivid details of autumn in the desert, from the sunrises to the sunsets, that will create a longing for more.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Departing from his series featuring Wisconsin newspaperman Mark Manning, Craft introduces Claire Gray, amateur sleuth, a happily single, 54-year-old New York theater director relocated to California to head the drama department at brand new Desert Arts College, the brainchild of a wealthy computer whiz. She has barely settled in when she and sculptor Paul Huron discover the half-naked body of Huron's wife, Jodie. Before you can say "Scene II," Claire is unofficially assisting the police detective heading the investigation, who appreciates her keen powers of observation. Questions abound: Did Paul and Jodie really have the perfect marriage, or does the gentleman protest too much? Did Jodie entertain a gentleman caller the morning she was murdered? Whose expensive cuff link was found at the scene of the crime--in the bed? And what of the housekeeper, Oralia, who sees more than she lets on? Claire persists, delighting with her intelligence, wit, and unabashed lust for a studly hunk half her age. Go, Claire! Whitney Scott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 272 pages
  • Publisher: Minotaur Books; 1st edition (December 14, 2001)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0312280343
  • ISBN-13: 978-0312280345
  • Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,973,674 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

11 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.7 out of 5 stars (11 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A fantstic new mystey series is born, December 6, 2001
This review is from: Desert Autumn: A Claire Gray Mystery (Claire Gray Series) (Hardcover)
Not that many people start life anew at fifty-four, but Claire Gray is one person who did. Claire was once the toast of Broadway as an award winning director and playwright, but relocates to Palm Desert to manage the Desert Arts College Theater. Mega-millionaire Glenn Yeats recruited the most talented people including Claire to chair the departments at the school.

At a welcoming party hosted by Glenn, Claire meets and hits it off with fellow chair Paul Huron and his wife Jodie. When Paul needs a ride from airport, Claire volunteers to take him. Upon arriving at his home, they find Jodie dead with her valuable wedding ring missing. Claire becomes obsessed with the case and soon proves quite competent at finding clues; She is so good the lead investigator officially adds her to his team.

While it seems implausible for a police officer to allow a civilian to help in a homicide case, the heroine's mindset and actions will make believers out of readers. Michael Craft provides an intense tale with appealing characters that the audience will want back in future novels. DESERT AUTUMN appears to be the first novel on what has the potential of being a great series.

Harriet Klausner

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars This is an Excellent book! I can't wait for more!, February 28, 2002
By 
Ronald Kevin Sowell (Plano, TX United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Desert Autumn: A Claire Gray Mystery (Claire Gray Series) (Hardcover)
Claire is a very well known and respected theater director from New York. After a lot of pressure from a billionaire developer, she agreed to head the theater department at a new theatrical college near Palm Springs. Then, after only two weeks in the desert, a colleague's wife is found murdered. Claire, having directed murder scenes in theater, now has an urge to help solve this murder.

Along the way, Claire meets Tanner, who was initially a suspect, and convinces him to enroll in the new college. Tanner, who is less than half her age, is very anxious to do just that. For an audition, Tanner recited a monologue from a play that Claire wrote. She was very moved. Then they took their relationship to a new level, with a little bump and grind.

Claire works her way through several suspects, and does indeed finally solve the murders. Yes, there was a second murder. There was one person who could have put the pieces together and nailed the murderer sooner, but the murderer searched him out and killed him as well. I was shocked at who the murderer was. I had some suspicions, but was blinded by other possibilities.

This was an excellent first book of a new series. I cannot wait for the next books to come out. I hope to hear more about Tanner, and look forward to hearing about Thad Quatrain as the school opens and classes begin.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars An interesting new series from Mr. Craft, February 16, 2002
By 
JP Colter "JP Colter" (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Desert Autumn: A Claire Gray Mystery (Claire Gray Series) (Hardcover)
An interesting start of a new series with the main character a theatre director, introduced in his short novel "Rehearsing" Here Claire Gray, a renown Broadway theatre director comes to Palm Springs to build a theatre program at a new college for the arts built buy a billionaire software magnate geek (can you say Bill Gates anyone?) Anyway, Mr. Crofts skills at narration, story development and complexity are improving with every book. I truly enjoyed this new one since the emphasis was not strictly on gay characters but a healthy mix of gay and straight characters. in many ways the only flaw in the characterizations I found was that the lead character, a woman, is written more like a strong assertive gay man rather than a true woman.
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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
Why, I wondered, would a woman of my age even flirt with the notion of starting over, much less do it? Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
marvelous mechanic, stage apron, entry court, party that night
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Glenn Yeats, Miss Gray, Tanner Griffin, Larry Knoll, Desert Detail, Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Paul Huron, New York, Desert Arts College, Grant Knoll, Henry Harris, Percy Blair, Villa Paseo, Detective Knoll, Miss Jodie, Claire Gray, Jodie Metz-Huron, Tide Arden, Rancho Mirage, Desert Sun, Arlene Harris, Dane Carmichael, Regal Palms, Sarad Patel
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