In A Family Way: A Bill Damen Mystery (Bill Damen Mysteries) [Hardcover]

James Calder (Author)

Book Description

Series: Bill Damen Mysteries | Publication Date: May 26, 2005

It's a parent's nightmare: the fertility doctor who tinkers with the very essence of a child. The Bill Damen series leaps onto a bigger and more ambitious canvas with the filmmaker-turned-sleuth's third case, one where life and death are chillingly intertwined. His cousin's young daughter, Margaret, is kidnapped and murdered. Exposing a shadowy underworld of embryo engineering, Bill finds that the circumstances of Margaret's birth have everything to do with her death. With the help of his new assistant, the dynamic and gorgeous Clementine, Bill's investigation reveals that the latest reproductive technology is a dangerous new weapon in an ageless battle. Tagged by Booklist as "fast-paced...with likeable good guys, nasty villains...and plenty of plot twists," the series grapples with the hard truth that science may change, but human nature does not.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Bay Area filmmaker Bill Damen is in the process of opening his own business, Damen Camerawork and Investigations, when his cousin Chris' young daughter, Margaret, disappears and is later found murdered. Chris, the heir apparent to his father's construction business, asks Bill to investigate. Was Margaret killed to keep the circumstances surrounding her birth a secret? Or was she killed by Indonesian gang members to scare the family away from a lucrative overseas construction project? Or did her own parents murder her because of her crippling medical bills? As Bill works the case, he comes to rely on his new assistant, the smart, flamboyant, and mysterious Clem, who adds considerable zest to this third installment in an increasingly entertaining series. Details of assisted reproduction and embryonic engineering frame the story, and fast pacing, lively characters, and a vivid sense of place keep the reader turning the pages. Sue O'Brien
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

James Calder is the author of the Bill Damen mystery series. He lives in San Francisco.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books (May 26, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 081184725X
• ISBN-13: 978-0811847254
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.8 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,561,587 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars DNA Noir, October 29, 2005

By 

Arch Llewellyn "arch-l" - See all my reviews

This review is from: In A Family Way: A Bill Damen Mystery (Bill Damen Mysteries) (Hardcover)

The Bill Damen mysteries give a smart, scientific twist to the classic San Francisco noir genre, and in this latest installment Calder grafts some serious questions about genetic engineering and the corruptions of power onto a grabbing whodunnit I had a hard time putting down. The characters are well-observed and cleanly drawn, from the sinister patriarch Cole Claypool to the shadowy Dr. Sabell, working at the margins of science and morality in his rogue lab to unlock the secrets of life itself. My favorite addition to the series though is Clem. Sassy, brainy, and every inch Bill's equal, she's ripe for a series of her own. All in all, a great read, as thought-provoking as it is fun.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just about the best biotech private eye series going, December 20, 2005

By 

Kevin Killian (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: In A Family Way: A Bill Damen Mystery (Bill Damen Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Just when we were nearly sure that top cameraman slash biotech private eye Bill Damen (like "Amen" with a D stuck in front of it) was actually another inquisitive San Francisco gay man, author James Calder gets him a girlfriend, the superspunky, supersexy, long legged American Beauty "Clem." Yes. Clem like Clementine. Calder's not so good with names, but you can always trust him to provide a mind-blowing plot involving genes and the mad scientists who think up ways to distort them and the capitalist types who exploit the science to buy themselves huge mansions in Hillsborough.

The tycoon in this book is Bill's own uncle Cole Claypool, head of a large construction engineering firm in the Bay Area that provides the "best erections in town" as he boasts. Sixty years old on the day the novel opens, Cole Claypool is still magnificently attractive to women and as determined as Soames Forsyte to preserve the family line, even if it means skirting close to the law. Cole Claypool (say that name five times fast if you can!) is a typical Calder protagonist, a free-thinking big spending bully who spreads a blight all over the land, and it's up to little fellows like Bill Damen to clean up the mess after him.

Cole's son Chris is busy putting together details of a huge Claypool project in Jakarta, and his wife, Janet, is spending the weekend with her family, and thus their little daughter, Margy (with a hard "g") is left in the hands of a nanny, Ulla, when she disappears, her body to be found in a park horribly murdered.

Did Margaret know too much? But what? She was only three and a half! Was her death tied to the death of Helen, her "sister," who had died of empysema at age six, much earlier in Claypool family annals? But how? She didn't even know Helen! Or did she? Anyone who's read any of the Bill Damen mysteries knows that the human genome is the trickiest and most valuable of human inventions, more sought after than blood diamonds and more alluring to the evil.

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun and interesting (5-star story, 2-star editing), July 9, 2007

By 

V. McCoy (Colorado) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: In A Family Way: A Bill Damen Mystery (Bill Damen Mysteries) (Hardcover)

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, especially its accurate descriptions of my beloved San Francisco streets and neighborhoods. There's some irritating carelessness in the writing: the police address the flat-broke Bill Damen as "Mr. Damen" and his rich cousin, who lives in a mansion, as "Chris"; Bill cleans up all the evidence of an attack on his car, including vacuuming the interior, then reports the crime to the police; "Cole let his crossed leg fall to the floor with a thump"--suspect Calder meant Cole's *foot* fell to the floor; etc. In all cases, any decent editor would have caught and corrected these things.

The main characters, Bill and his girlfriend Clem, are well drawn and likable, and the story is unusual and interesting. All in all, it's more fun and more pleasing than a lot of the overly hyped books on the NYTBSL.