4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another Craft Success!, October 13, 2005
This review is from: Desert Summer: A Claire Gray Mystery (Claire Gray Mysteries) (Hardcover)
Those who are fans of Michael Craft's novels (and those who will make this their first read) will not be disappointed in this Claire Gray installment! As is his custom, the author makes us feel at home with familiar venues and characters. Who cannot admire Claire's keen sleuthful instincts? Who cannot cease to be entertained by the outrageous Kiki? Who cannot cheer the relationship between Grant and Kane?
Ah, but this is a mystery novel, after all! The list of potential who-done-it suspects is populated with typical Craft skill. My guess changed at least twice until the totally disarming surprise ending!
A most enjoyable and easy read! I look forward to Michael's next!
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
4th "Claire" Mystery the Best Yet!, August 8, 2005
This review is from: Desert Summer: A Claire Gray Mystery (Claire Gray Mysteries) (Hardcover)
In the fourth (and, in my opinion, best) mystery in this series, Craft's Claire Gray again stumbles across a murder, this time of the vindictive ex-wife of her friend and employer at the Desert Arts College, billionaire D. Glen Yeats. Circumstances implicate Yeats as the murderer, a possibility Claire finds logical but hopes her intuition is correct as deeming it unlikely. Other possible suspects include Yeat's daughter Paige, who expressed open hostility toward her former step mother and was seen en route to see her shortly before she was found dead, as well as the decedent's own son, a spoiled playboy who had financial problems and would be the sole beneficiary of her will. As in the past, Claire teams unofficially with Larry Knohl, Palm Springs police detective and brother of her good friend Grant, in trying to sort out the facts of the case, ironically now urged on by Yeats, who discouraged his employee from becoming involved in police business ... that is until it was his rich behind that was on the line!
This installment in the series also fleshes out several of the supporting characters, including Claire's oldest friend Kiki (who also is Glenn update his wardrobe), Grant and his younger boyfriend Kane (who are planning a civil union ceremony), Thad Quatrain (theatre student of Claire's, who is the nephew of Mark Manning, the star of Craft's just-concluded other series of mystery novels), and Detective Knohl, who is going through some marital problems. The pace and suspense of the mystery is Hitchcock-ish, not surprising when Claire and other characters draw parallels between the murder and the play "Rebecca", which Hitchcock filmed and which her students are currently studying in their summer workshop. Though over 250 pages, I went through the book in a bit over a day, it is that much of a "page turner"!
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not the end but a comtinuation I hope, February 22, 2006
This review is from: Desert Summer: A Claire Gray Mystery (Claire Gray Mysteries) (Hardcover)
There is only one word to describe this series - EXCELLENT!! Plot twists abound and when you think you have it solved you are right back to the beginning. I sure hope this series will continue. I'll be the 1st in line here at Amazon to buy it.
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