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5.0 out of 5 stars
Good Fun Mystery, August 6, 2006
This review is from: Elusive Voice, The (Michael Merrick Mysteries) (Paperback)
This book is a shadowy and richly satisfying traditional mystery set in the Boston of the late 1800s.
It has a cast of deeply drawn characters and is vividly set against the backdrop of the height of the spiritual movement that swept the country's wealthly set at the time, and utterly involves the reader in a series of 'seance' murders.
It's the mission of investigative reporter Michael Merrick to seek the truth, which he does in the realistic manner of the era.
Not once does Adamson transgress beyond us with jarring errors and respects her readers intelligence by aptly keeping us monumentally interested in Merrick's progress page by page till the final climax.
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3.0 out of 5 stars
An Elusive Satisfaction, June 23, 2008
This review is from: Elusive Voice, The (Michael Merrick Mysteries) (Paperback)
An interesting premise that interweaves late nineteenth century Spiritualism, William James, and poisoning. Yet, there is so little action, so many chapters filled with endless chatter that are less than riveting, and so many allusions to the previous novel in the series that you apparently better have read or else. As for the finale, while extremely clever, it's rendered with less finesse than one would have hoped for. As for the heroine's quick departure from the scene, the reader deserves a little more of her tale for having stood by Ms. Adamson for 326 pages. The author, a solid writer, shows great promise, and if she had an experienced mystery editor to guide her, one who would have cut about 75-pages from this tome, The Elusive Voice might have been less elusive.
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3.0 out of 5 stars
2nd Merrick mystery isn't quite as good..., September 1, 2004
This review is from: Elusive Voice, The (Michael Merrick Mysteries) (Paperback)
Mary Jo Adamson manages to tell an entertaining story in her "Elusive Voice" about a suspictious death of a Harvard professor, and the Spiritualist seance at which it happened. Michael Merrick, a skeptic and recupating police reporter, is asked to look into the mystery and into Syvlie, the medium at the seance. Adamson wrecks the contuinity of the story by making this story set in the early 1870's, while refercing the first, which seemed to have been set in the 1840's. This is one reason why I couldn't rate this as good as the first book. Merrick eventually does uncover the death as a murder, as he tries to protect Sylvie from danger, and solve the mystery. Interesting twist at the end, as we discover who the "Spirit Killer" is. It does capture the early 1870s well, and I did like what Adamson had to say, so I will give this 3 stars, and recommend it.
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