Customer Reviews

Desert Spring: A Claire Gray Mystery

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

 

 

Now, with the sad demise of the Mark Manning series, we can rejoice that we have Claire Gray. Not only are they well-plotted, they also give us a deadly accurate view of life in Palm Springs. None has been better than Desert Spring. I look forward to many more.

Living in southeastern Wisconsin, I was among those fortunate enough to see
Michael Craft's play, "Photo Flash," when it premiered in a local
production last fall. Like the rest of the audience, I found it to be a
delightful, humorous romp and a solid whodunit. When I learned that the
play was actually the basis of Craft's new novel, "Desert Spring," I
couldn't wait to read the book. And I was not disappointed. The story works
even better in book form, with added characters, extended intrigue, and a
much more intimate look at the main character, Claire Gray. If you haven't
yet explored this series, you're missing a wonderful reading experience.
Highly recommended.

She was a famous Broadway director, well known and respected, who took a sabbatical to write her own play Traders which won a Tony and was nominated for an Oscar when it was made into a film. At age fifty-four, she was recruited by Glenn Yeats, who founded and is now president of Desert Arts college, two hours noth of LA, to be the chair of the theatre department. One day when she went to get her car tinted, she met twenty-six year old Tanner Griffin and immediately saw his star potential.

While she coached him in acting they become lovers and together they put the college on the map. On the last day of the production of Traders, Claire hosts a cast party and a going away party for Tanner who has signed up to act in a movie in Hollywood. The party is a smashing success but when most of the people call it a night, Hollywood producer and screenwriter Spencer Wallace is found dead in Claire's swimming pool. Tests show he was poisoned and probably was pushed into the pool and circumstantial evidence points to Claire as the suspect although there were many other people at the party who wanted him dead. her own Claire once again starts her own investigation with the stakes being the restoration of her good name and finding out who the perpetrator is who is trying to frame her.

Michael Craft, the author of the fascinating Mark Manning series has another winning, although totally different in tone and content, series to his credit. Claire Gray proves you're never too old for romance or a career change. She knows her strengths and there is no false modesty about her yet the audience will notice that at rare and unexpected times, she has moments of vulnerability which makes the reader like her all the more. DESERT SPRING is a sophisticated and entertaining amateur sleuth novel.

Harriet Klausner

Desert Spring gives us a chance to catch up with Claire Gray and enjoy a pleasant weekend read, while visiting some of the friends we've made in Michael Craft's earlier Claire Gray mysteries. From the time you first met Claire in "Rehersing" and catch up again in Desert Autumn and Desert Winter, you come to know an intriguing personality who surrounds herself with an assortment of friends and aquaintances we are sure to recognize. Let yourself go a little and you might think Michael Craft "knows" you. If this is the first of his novels you have a chance to read - prepare to enjoy yourself. If you have read his earlier works - either the Claire Gray or the Mike Manning series - you will find yourself growing and developing along with his corps of characters, and wanting more.

In his playful (pun intended) tenth novel, Michael Craft fuses the intricacies of the classic mystery genre with the overall structure of dramatic theater to create a wild entertainment. Claire Gray is facing the end of her first academic year at Desert Arts College, as well as the probable end of her relationship with her younger leading man, who is set to star in his first feature film. She publicly laments this loss, and quips that she wishes the director dead, so when his body is discovered in her pool after that night's party, guess who's the prime suspect? Briefly reluctant to involve herself in yet another murder investigation, Claire sets out to clear her name and finds that only she actually liked the director, and the list of suspects grows by the moment. Written simultaneously with Craft's stage play "Photo Flash", "Desert Spring" borrows heavily from the theater world, and this only cements the lively quality of his storytelling. The book is determined to be both fun and serious, without being dour, and greatly surpassed my expectations.

Certainly not in the same league as the Mark Manning series. I had it figured out early on. Lacks the suspense and intrigue of his other works.

The author seems determined to pump out as many novels as he can. He has another due out in August. The result is that this one at least is really bad.
The plot is essential to the mystery genre, and here there simply isn't much of one. The murder itself is about as implausile and contrived as can be. Only the densest reader will not know who did it from the outset. The novel simply progresses from one character to the next explaining why that person has a motive for killing the man. As an example of how contrived the whole thing is: one of the suspects is the man's wife who was not at the party at which the he was killed. That is explained away by saying she might have come uninvited and in disguise. I'm sure many husbands don't recognize their wives even in disguise. Whereas a good mystery writer drops little hints along the way, the author drops cement blocks. He is not the least bit subtle. He uses every cheap trick and cliché of mystery writing to the point that even he makes fun of them at the end.
And then there is the style. I don't know why he has chosen to sound like a bitchy old queen. Having the main character correct someone's grammar is tasteless, but the author then goes on to make his own mistakes. Perhaps he should have Claire Gray proofread for him. I had the feeling I was listening to gossip from an old biddy.
Do yourself a favor. Don't buy this one.

The only mystery here is why people like this book.

It's predictable, dull, badly written, and stuffed with cliches and unbelievable situations. The plot is absurd, the characters are cardboard. Even a willing suspension of disbelief doesn't get you past the first few pages. It's just plain silly.

I second tevans' opinion: Save your money for something better.