Customer Reviews

Edwin of the Iron Shoes: A Novel of Suspense (Mw Suspense)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Just as Dashiell Hammett invented the hard-boiled PI and paved the way for the future success of Chadler, Spillane, MacDonald, and others, so Marcia Muller created the equivalent concept of the female hard-boiled PI. Edwin is Muller's first novel, but her detective, Sharon McCone, springs to life fully formed and quite likeable. What's more, the book is actually a well-crafted mystery, a whodunit with very real clues and a killer not revealed until the very end (unlike some of Muller's inheritors, who seem to favor suspense over actual mystery). All in all, a very satisfying read, and especially interesting in light of it's status as originator. All you Paretsky and Grafton (and Cornell, etc) fans, give it a shot!

"Edwin of the Iron Shoes" is Marcia Muller's first Sharon McCone novel, and the first hard-boiled female private investigator novel published. It was written in 1977, and since then there have been a rash of hard-boiled female private eye novels published. McCone works for All Souls Legal Cooperative. A small-time antique store owner is murdered with a dagger from one of her display cases. Edwin of the Iron Shoes is a little-boy mannequin with iron shoes who "witnesses" the murder, but of course can't speak. This is a very good novel, which I would give 4 stars in a usual review, but the impact this novel has had on American mystery fiction earns it a 5th star. Marcia Muller was the first, and in my opinion, still the best by far.

This is the 1st of the Sharon McCone books. I discovered it when another author's fictional detective referred to McCone on a "case." And holy cow! This book is copyrighted 1977. Where has it been hiding from me? Sharon McCone is quite a bit like Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone (or vice versa), which is truly high praise from me. It's savvy, sexy, exciting stuff. McCone is way cool. EDWIN OF THE IRON SHOES is set mostly in an antique shop with the eerie "characters" of a headless mannequin named Clothilde and a little "boy" named Edwin who has strange iron shoes. The author creates only a sketchy sense of place, but a definite sense of character, with some really fun potental villains. A very interesting ultimate motive for the murder makes for a satisfying ending. I can see why this is such a popular series. I loved it!

I am a fan of Ms Muller's,and I thought I'd go back to the beginning. I was not at all disappointed. This is a thoroughly enjoying who-dunnit and I recommend it to you. As you read it you can see the clues that she will make this character a winner. It is uncluttered by her usual gang who will probably be introduced later, so her effort is focused and her characterizations really overwhelm in this effort. I will now go through the rest of her books, in order, resting assured they we be as good as the last.

I read this book a number of years ago, but recently decided to go back and try to read the Sharon McCone books in order.

I was not disappointed. The first time I read this book I did not realize what an excellent first mystery book this is. Sharon McCone is a likeable and believable character.

I liked the information about the world of art and antiques.

If you haven't read any of Marcia Muller's Sharon McCone books, I highly recommend this one.

It took me a long time to discover Marsha Muller, but I am glad that I finally did. This is the first installment of her Sharon McCone Mystery Series which had a strong influence on later female authors and heroines. Sue Grafton, in a quote on the book jacket calls Muller the "founding mother of the contemporary female hard-boiled private eye". That's quite a claim considering how many well-known female investigators there are in fiction now. In this first installment, Sharon McCone is the investigator for a group of attorneys called All Souls Cooperative. Her boss Hank asks her to investigate the murder of an antique store owner who has been stabbed with one of her own knives. Sharon learns that the dead woman was about to make an important decision about selling her property and she feels that this might be a motive. She also discovers some shady goings-on among the art dealers and tries to fit this in to a motive for murder. Add to this some past and present romances, and there are several possible suspects. Muller's writing is clear and to-the-point. She tells a good story and carefully wraps up each loose end. I look forward to reading the other books in this series, which has so far spanned a 25-year period.

Private eye Sharon McCone was hired by All Souls Cooperative, a San Francisco legal services plan, to discover who was vandalizing a small street of antique shops when one of the antique dealers was found murdered in her own shop. Sharon had no idea who had killed Joan Albritton, a pleasant older woman whose main fault was talking to the dressmaker's dummy, the stuffed German shepherd, and the little boy mannequin she kept in her shop, but she didn't feel confident in the police's ability to discover the killer. Especially after she met the unpleasantly patronizing Lieutenant Marcus who was in charge of the case. Uncertain of whether she would be paid for her work or not, but refusing to allow Joan Albritton's killer to go free, Sharon starts her investigation.

Suspects abound, with Charlie, the junkman who ran the shop across the street from Joan's, at the forefront. Charlie was Joan's former lover, recently jilted for a wealthier man, and he was the one who had discovered the body and called the police. Then there was Cara Ingalls, a real estate mogul with ice running through her veins. She made no secret of the fact that she was glad that Joan was gone so that she could buy the land and force the antique dealers out. Of course, Cara was not the only one trying to buy the land and then there was the slimy bond bailsman and the slick "antique-style" dealer who kept popping up at every corner. Not to mention the puzzling Lieutenant Marcus, who was grateful for Sharon's help and then pushing her aside the next. As Sharon takes more and more risks, she comes closer to solving Joan's death, but she also comes closer to being murdered herself...

Edwin of the Iron Shoes is the First Sharon McCone mystery and it was just okay. The book was well written, but the story was pretty simplistic and the characterization was pretty inconsistent. Sharon McCone is billed as this hard-boiled female private investigator, but I thought that she was pretty stupid myself. She took a lot of unnecessary risks and managed to solve the case more by being the only one around then following the clues properly. Also, I know that this book was written quite some time ago (I have the 1977 edition), but I have a hard time believing that the police ever invited female private investigators to look over the crime scene while the body was still there. With a stronger plot, more believe characters and some additional detail, this mystery would have been much better. Hopefully the series improves as it goes along...

This is the first Sharon McCone mystery written by Marcia Muller. In it, we find beginning her career with the All-Soul Legal Co-Op. This is a fine first novel and gives an early taste of some wonderful stories to come.

Like other reviewers, I have read some of Muller's later books and wished to go back and start at the beginning of the series. I recently discovered that the first Sharon McCone story was available in audio (my preferred medium these days,) so I snapped it up.

I wish I had saved my money.

This is not an awful book, nor is it great; it's average...with a couple of distracting irritants.

This is my first review and the primary reason I'm writing it is that no other reviewer on this site mentioned the cringe-inducing ethnic stereotyping that often appears in this book. Of particular note is the overt racism with which the Latino henchman is repeatedly described. Below is only one of several possible examples, a portion of dialogue between Sharon McCone and her building manager (who is also a racial stereotype - Irish, in his case):

"Oh, I get it. You're avoiding him."

"Avoiding who?"

"The Mexican guy who was at your door a few minutes ago."

"What did he look like?

"Like a Mexican."

(I have only the audio recording so I haven't followed grammatical protocol for quoting this passage. Nonetheless, the dialogue I lifted is accurate and sums up my point despite being slightly out-of-context.)

While listening to the story I repeatedly reminded myself to suspend judgment and remember the less-enlightened era in which it was written. However, by the time I got to the above passage I was finding Muller's tendency to fall back on stereotype as a descriptive device exasperating, if nothing else. P-C cringing aside, it's just disappointing.

Ditto the dialogue between McCone and the police detective on the case. The uneven tension felt to me like a clumsily-applied Harlequin Romance template (not my taste even when it's done well,) and the male character's sexism was boorish to the point of undermining McCone's credibility with the reader for showing interest in such a cad. This is not an attraction I can buy, no matter what the time period.

I have read and enjoyed later Sharon McCone books, so I know that Muller has evolved as an author. Here I must acknowledge, too, that my frustration with this book has no doubt been exacerbated by the sub-par narration of the particular audio version I purchased. For these reasons, and out of respect for Muller's pioneer spirit, I raised my rating from two stars to three. Knowing there are better things ahead, I plan to try the second audiobook in the series...however, I will be looking for it at the library, not at the bookstore!

This is the first in the Sharon McCone series. Sharon finds trouble around the corner in the "Antique" district. The people in this rundown neighborhood have been getting threats and lots of vandalism. Sharon is hired to find out who did it and why. Before she can someone is dead and now Sharon has to find out who before she's the next one. Great read. This is the first one in the series and its a good one!