Houston in the Rearview Mirror [Hardcover]

Susan Rogers Cooper (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1990

In Houston to help his sister, Jewel Anne--who has been accused of her husband's murder--Oklahoma Chief Deputy Sheriff Milt Kovick relies on the assistance of Jewel Anne's neighbors to help him clear her name. Reprint. PW.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Milton Kovak of the Prophesy County, Okla., sheriff's department (introduced in The Man in the Green Chevy ) is summoned to Houston where his long-estranged sister, Jewel, lies in a coma, accused of murdering her husband, accountant Henry Hotchkiss, and turning the gun on herself. While Milton cares for the couple's three children, he tries to discover the circumstances surrounding the shootings, and attempts to allay his guilt over his strained relationship with Jewel. Accompanied by Honey Lancaster, Jewel's gorgeous best friend and neighbor, Kovak seeks out others who might have a motive to kill Henry, who turns out to have been a philanderer. Although a visit to a pick-up bar frequented by Henry and Chuck, Honey's ex-football-player husband, turns up a number of Henry's girlfriends--and a one-night stand for Milton--but no solid leads, Milton remains convinced of Jewel's innocence. Cooper captures the nature of family bonds and the flavor of the declining Texas city, once rich and proud, now a little sad and seedy.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Chief Deputy Milton Kovak of Longbranch, Oklahoma, travels to Houston on learning that his much younger sister has apparently killed her husband and then shot herself. Caring for Jewel's children and allied with strong-willed neighbors Chuck and Honey, Milton attempts to clear his sister: he surmises jealous husbands, secretive business dealings, and Arab conspiracies. Though this has mostly empty hype for plot, the amiable characters, family interactions, and periodic action ride this second novel home.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 165 pages
• Publisher: St Martins Pr; 1st edition (January 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312038437
• ISBN-13: 978-0312038434
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,583,641 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Good continuation of older series, September 21, 2009

By 

Linda S. Myers (TN) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Houston In The Rearview Mirror (Mass Market Paperback)

Susan Rogers Cooper's Houston in the Rearview Mirror is the second in the Chief Deputy Milt Kovak series (following The Man in the Green Chevy), which she began in the early 1990s. Kovak is in his late 40s, an overweight, small-town lawman who hasn't had to fire his gun at anyone in eighteen years on the job. He pretty much runs the sheriff's department in Prophecy County, Oklahoma. He carries emotional baggage from his failed marriage and from his lack of relationship with his much-younger sister Jewel, among other things. He is a likeable, very human character. Secondary characters in the series are distinctive and well-developed, and the rural atmosphere rings true. Kovak is the first-person narrator.

The book opens when Kovak is called to Houston to care for his niece and nephews since his brother-in-law Henry Hotchkiss has been shot and Jewel, suspected of killing him, is in a coma following an apparent suicide attempt. Kovak feels distinctly out of place in the city (Cooper handles the effect of the collapse of the oil boom of the 1980s effectively), both physically and because he does not believe his sister guilty. The plot of Houston in the Rearview Mirror consists of Kovak's poking around in Hotchkiss's affairs (both financial and amatory), looking for other motives/suspects and stirring up trouble. The killer was unexpected, but Ms. Cooper played fair with appropriate, well-hidden clues.

I enjoy reading series in order, so it is comforting to know that I have several more books to go.