Customer Reviews

It's a Crime: A Novel

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It's a Crime incorporates multiple themes seamlessly: a timely portrait of the personal and social fallout of corporate greed; the universal middle-aged effort to reconcile the younger romantic selves of our memory with the conscience of the mundane demographic which we may reluctantly represent; the shifting puzzle of communication between generations; and a playful, imaginative homage to the mystery genre (although be aware: it is not, most decidedly, a mystery!). It's a Crime is the perfect read for an indulgent weekend.

It's a Crime isn't your typical whodunnit. It's a thoughtful, provocative, social commentary, and considering it was written at least a year before the current market conditions, Ms. Carey must have had a crystal ball. Pat Foy is 100% believable as a landscape designer who leaves the world of plants behind to make amends for her husband's misdeeds. (Carey really nailed the plant-speak; as a garden designer I was especially critical.) There are no easy answers here, no neat/fake wrap-up at the end. It's an excellent story involving strong, well-written characters, unusual relationships, and a lot of cool plants!

"Carey uses her experience as a mystery columnist for salon.com to write a mystery about corporate greed that is simply impossible to put down. Pat Foy's perfect marriage is interrupted when her husband Frank is arrested for fraud. She could hide from all of her friends or use all of the knowledge that she thinks she has gained from constantly reading mystery novels to try to free her husband. Her choice makes It's A Crime a real winner and left us eagerly awaiting Carey's next book."

A tangy, whipsmart tale for our strange times. Jane Austen meets Wall Street and adventures ensue. Read this book for a lot of pleasure and a bit of respite.

What starts out as a topical premise (corporate corruption at the executive level), turns into a peripatetic tale of quirky characters on a dubious mission -- attempting restitution to victims of the failed company's stock value.

The protagonist, Pat Foy, wife of the jailed executive, attempts to see the silver lining in the clouds around her as she struggles with the imprisonment of her husband Frank and the financial harm done to investors. This makes for some bizarre dialogue on her part, as she brings up landscaping (her part-time job) topics interspersed with the more immediate woes. She accidently reunites with her odd-ball best friend Ginny from many years ago, and together they encounter several erstwhile shareholders, who have tales of their own.

Intermingled with this are the growing pains of Pat's two daughters, and their own conflicts about their father's fate. Add to this some background story with Pat's former lover, Lemuel, and the book meanders through Pat's emotional and good-will journey.

There's nothing compelling about any of the characters we meet; we certainly aren't waiting for a sequel to learn how Pat, Ginny, the daughters, Lemuel, his son, or even Frank cope with an uncertain future.

It may produce some conversation at a women's book club, but it would likely be a short session.

Pat Foy, the central character in this mystery, is the wife of Frank, a high-profile accountant who has developed creative/corrupt/reckless accountancy practices, at the bidding of his LinkAge, Inc., bosses.

Pat is, on her own level, an accomplished landscape designer, accustomed to living large, in a beautiful home, with expensive clothes and endless amounts of money. She finds it impossible to believe that her husband acted alone in the LinkAge, Inc., scandal for which he pays.

As Pat explores the apparent financial ruin of many of the LinkAge employees and those in the community, she is determined to pay back the thousands of dollars to those who lost it all. Not everyone she comes in contact with is as thrilled to see her-as she is willing to pay them compensation.

This novel takes many twists and turns as Pat recollects the day when she was infatuated with popular crime novelist, Lemuel Samuel. In an odd twist of fate, their lives intersect as Pat and a formerly estranged friend, Virginia, find themselves seeking answers to Frank's incarceration, while other top LinkAge executives go freely about their everyday lives.

Pat's carefree, witty nature and boundless energy is applied to all facets of her life. You see and hear it as she considers her husband's plight, her friendships, her role as a mother, and as benefactor to those whose financial losses came at the hand of her husband. You also see it while she tries to link those who masterminded the corrupt accounting scandal to the crime.

Throughout this novel the author explores the carefree, complex, dark and redeeming sides of the human experience. As you would expect and hope, this mystery is solved in its last pages.

However, I had these issues: it was a slow read, did not pack a compelling plot focus and seemed to meander. I wondered why Frank, Pat's incarcerated husband, is only noted by his letters to his family and brief visits by his wife. I would have expected more from his character as Pat focuses on redeeming him through her charitable giving to those who lost their retirement savings or investments with LinkAge.

Armchair Interviews says: Good read that could have been a great read.

LinkAge Telecom accountant Frank Foy is convicted of fraud and sent to prison. His wife Pat, a landscape designer, rejects his guilt; insisting a simple mistake occurred. Obsessed while living with their teenage daughter Ruby, Pat decides to prove her spouse's innocence based on his explanation that fixing the numbers is standard acceptable accounting practice in the United States. She plans to make remittance to the victims.

Her efforts prove overwhelmingly futile but lead her former best friend Ginny Howley and her first lover Lemuel Samuel to offer to help her; although both mystery writers are victims of the firm's collapse. Along with his teenage son and Ruby, they try to persuade Pat that Frank is guilty and deserves jail time for all the people he hurt.

Echoes of Enron and Arthur Anderson run throughout this unusual character driven tale of five people impacted by the fraud. The cast is solid although the changing perspectives can prove overwhelming and subtract from the morality tale of minimally correcting wrongs. Still this is an interesting look at the business of business in the Bush Era in which the White House and Congress are located on Wall St.

Harriet Klausner