Customer Reviews

Goodnight, Irene

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Back in 1955, a young woman was found murdered on the beach in Las Piernas, California. Her face was destroyed and her hands and feet cut off so that she couldn't be identified. The police dubbed her Hannah and were never able to close the case. Newspaperman, O'Connor wrote the original stories back then and has never given up on finding the identity of this Jane Doe. Every year, on the anniversary of her murder, he writes his now famous "Hannah" column. But not this year. Several days before his annual article will come out, O'Connor is killed on his front porch by a package bomb. Now his dearest friend and protege, Irene Kelly, is on a mission to find out why. As she and the police begin to investigate, going back over O'Connor's notes and files, it seems he was just about ready to break this very old case wide open and pretty soon Irene finds out first hand that there are people who will stop at nothing to keep those secrets buried forever..... Jan Burke has written a terrific, well paced debut mystery, easily read in one sitting, full of vivid scenes and enough twists and turns to keep you off balance and guessing to the end. Her writing is down to earth, her characters, real and her dialogue, very true to life. This is the start of a terrific, fun series and once you've met Irene, you'll want to read them all.

If my review prompts just one person to check out this new series, I will be happy indeed. In this first book, Irene Kelly goes back to her old job as reporter after the bombing murder of O'Connor, her best friend and former mentor at the newspaper. It seems that O'Connor had been about to make a breakthrough on a thirty-five year old case of an unidentified murder victim. The victim was a young, pregnant woman. Her hands and feet had been cut off and her face smashed to prevent identification. When Irene and Frank Harriman of the Las Piernas police become involved in the case, bodies start piling up too fast to keep count. Ms Burke's theme seems to be that past misdeeds will always come back to haunt us. This is a theme that also echoes through her work in later books. If you're a mystery fan, you definitely should check out this new series. It's well written, with fine character development, and intelligent plotting. I highly recommend it.

Great mystery! Picked it up secondhand, but am now rushing to buy all the rest. Lots of intrigue, and for once I didn't guess "whodunit" halfway through. Like Cornwell and Hillerman, Jan Burke has constructed a believable main protagonist with a well-rounded background--she's not just a puppet in service to the case at hand. Lots of intrigue, but not as hard-edged, as say, Cornwell's books. I'm looking forward to following her through other mysteries. If you're a fan of the genre, I'll bet you'll get hooked on Irene too!

Irene Kelly is an intense and engaging character. The story line is superb and the mystery is detailed and intricate. This is destined to be a successful series of books. It was hard to put this one down!

Irene Kelly, the woman referred to in Jan Burke's "Goodnight Irene," is a veteran reporter for the News Express, in the fictional Southern California town of Las Piernas. She is presently working for a public relations firm, however, after having quit her job at the newspaper. Kelly made the temporary career change as a result of an argument concerning professional ethics with the publication's very unprofessional editor-in-chief. Then Conn O'Conner, Irene's beloved best friend, and longtime mentor at the Express, is brutally murdered. The only clue Irene can come up with is O'Connor's obsession with a long-unsolved homicide and an unidentified female body discovered in Las Piernas 35 years before. The corpse's face had been destroyed, and her hands and feet cut off so that her identity could not be established. The police dubbed her Hannah and tried for years to solve the case, to no avail. Newspaperman O'Connor wrote the original stories back then and had never given up on finding the identity of this Jane Doe. Every year, on the anniversary of her murder, he wrote his famous "Hannah" column, usually targeting more recently disappeared people.

Homicide cop Frank Harriman, Irene's love interest from years before, is working on the O'Conner case, and asks Irene to get her job back at the Express in order to take over her former mentor's assignments. The rationale is that she might be able to find information useful to the investigation while continuing the dead man's work. In O'Conner's confidential files, she discovers a maze of forensic records that suggest a motive far more sinister than anyone imagined for the newspaperman's violent death, the unidentified woman's murder, and more recently, three horrific and separate attacks on Irene's, Frank's and O'Conner's son's lives. The unknown killer will obviously resort to anything to prevent past secrets from coming to light. And Irene and Frank develop a closer relationship as they work together to find the murderer(s).

I had never read an Irene Kelly mystery until last month when I picked-up "Bloodlines," the most recent book in the series. As that extraordinary suspense thriller goes back in time to Irene's initial days as a reporter, and tells the tale of her burgeoning relationship with Conn O'Conner, I was fortunate to read it before beginning "Goodnight, Irene." Jan Burke has written a wonderful series of mysteries, which are more than just good sleuth novels. She creates characters who are three-dimensional and grow as the series progresses. Her people are both sympathetic and flawed, and Irene Kelly, a combination of Lois Lane, Nancy Drew, with just a touch of Katherine Hepburn, makes a memorable heroine. Unfortunately, one of her flaws is stubbornness which borders on the extreme. As intelligent as she is, she frequently acts on impulse and winds up doing what she has been specifically told not to do, often with life- threatening results. Ms. Burke has surrounded Irene with a number of interesting and memorable friends and family members, characters who add to the depth and richness of the novels.

Overall, this is a well-paced debut mystery, filled with enough twists and turns to keep the reader riveted. I plan to read book two, "Sweet Dreams, Irene" ASAP!
JANA

It's getting a bit difficult for me to find new mystery writers that write well as well as spin good plots and do a good job on character development. I guess I read too much too fast. Anyway, I think I read this in two nights. Considering I work, and I am finishing my doctorate...I think that is a good indication of how much I enjoyed Burke's tale. Plan on reading more in the near future of hers.....

The book is not bad, but a little cliche at times. Irene Kelly is a former newspaper reporter, who takes up the job again when her long time friend and fellow reporter, O'Connor is blown up by a letterbomb. She begins investigating the decades old unsolved homicide that O'Connor was obsessed with, thinking there may be some link to his murder. Irene's ex lover Frank is a homicide cop, and they reconnect over the case. The latter half of the book I spent groaning over the fact that if Irene and the cops would compare notes a little more frequently she would not land in such hot water, and be blindsided by some of the information.

I like this book overall, it did not knock my socks off, but I have slogged through MUCH worse fiction.

This is a very proficient debut novel in what has gone on to become an established series about Californian newspaperwoman Irene Kelly.
The book has -quite literally -an explosive start ,when Irene's friend and mentor the veteran journalist O'Connor is blown to pieces by a parcel bomb .Soon afterwards she herself is shot at in her own home and her former brother in law Kenny ,a resident in O'Connor's home is savagely beaten up and hospitalised .
She begins digging into O'Connor's recent cases and one turns out to be the key to events -an unsolved "Jane Doe " murder from 30 years previously about which O,Connor had repeatedly written . He was getting close to revealing both the identity of the murdered girl and in the process uncovering facts which several prominemt local politcal and social figures would rather leave in obscurity .
By continuing where O,Connor left off Irene is placing herself and others in harm's way -and the body count is by no means over
with Irene the target of two attempted murders before the case is wrapped up
Along the way she re-ignites a previous relationship with the detective in charge of the case and finds time to act as matchmaker to her oldest friend as well as getting closer to her sister
The book is moderately violent but not in lip smackingly gloating way and it occups the mid ground betwen cosy and hard boiled styles .

Good start to a series I will explore more deeply

The book got here super fast and was in great condition. Love this series! Wonderfully written and keeps you on the edge of your seat all the way to the end. As soon as I finish one I can get to the next on fast enough!

This was a great book. It had it all--love, loss, friendship, intrigue, and betrayal. It had be going from laughter to tears, but through it all it held me riveted to find out what is going to happen next!!