12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A good relatinship drama and mystery, February 15, 2001
African-American prison psychiatrist Roxie Bouchie lives and works in California. While Roxie depends on her intellect to guide her, her partner and lover, the highly respected social psychiatrist Blue McCarron, lives on emotion and hunches. The duo provides consulting services, which include the San Diego police department as a prime client.
Two state politicians, Senator Mary Grossinger and Assemblywoman Dixie Ross, died of cerebral hemorrhages two weeks apart. Blue and Roxie realize that the odds of the two women dying like this in such a short time are astronomical. A maniac, The Sword of Heaven, is murdering females in high profile positions with the only link between the two legislators' death being having plastic surgery at the same place. However, suspects are plentiful, but impetuous Blue decides to risk her life to flush out the Sword of Heaven killer.
THE LAST BLUE PLATE SPECIAL is a very fine laid out mystery due to a horde of suspects, a land mine of red herrings, and dexterously unexpected twists and turns. Abigail Padgett uses a relationship drama starring two individuals who love and care for each other against all the odds of their making it together o crate a wonderful mystery. Though obviously targeted for fans of medical, psychological, and gay mysteries, the novel provides a mainstream appeal.
Harriet Klausner
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Better than the First Outing, April 24, 2001
This is the second outing for social psychologist Blue McCarran. As she works on a woman's political campaign, prominent San Diego women begin to die - apparently of massive strokes. Blue is the first to realize that the probabilty of this happening naturally is next to nil. In working with the police on these murders, she and her partner, psychiatrist Roxie Bouchie, narrow the suspects down to a prominent plastic surgery clinic that all the dead women used. But which of the clinic's medical team is the murderer? Padgett plays fair giving the reader all the clues as Blue finds them, yet not announcing the culprit until the last pages. The characters are finely drawn and many have returned from the first book. The relationship between Blue and Roxie is explored, but is not the central theme of the book. This is another very good mystery from Abigail Padgett, and well worth the read.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Smart, Well Paced, Enjoyable, and Intelligent, June 6, 2001
Abigail Padgett's "The Last Blue Plate Special" features Blue McCarron and her friend/lover Roxanne Bouchie, respectively a social psychologist and a psychiatrist. High-placed woman politicians are dying in ways they shouldn't, especially when they're dying in the same ways, especially times two when they have the same occupation. With the help of her extensive training and some esoteric computer analysis, Blue formulates a theory that eventually drags Rox into her investigation.
As you may know if you read the predecessor book, "Blue," these two women make a formidable duo. In this book, scoping out the cause of death doesn't mean they can prevent future deaths or even eliminate the risk to themselves. But with the help of a refreshingly non-stereotypical police detective, progress is made. This novel holds surprises down to the end.
Too much has been made, I think, of "The Last Blue Plate Special" as a lesbian novel. "Rubyfruit Jungle" may be a lesbian novel; this one is not. The women are intimate and we know they make love but graphic descriptions are omitted. Heck, even in the Fifties Mickey Spillane was more graphic about sex.
I liked "The Last Blue Plate Special" better than "Blue." I thought it had better coherence and flowed better. Part of this may simply be that the author did not have to extensively introduce two ambitious and compassionate women with extremely erudite credentials, at least not to the extent as before. I also noticed less irritating "guppiedom"; Blue still has to juggle work, commute to and from her desert home, spend quality time with Rox, and take care of a Doberman, but she doesn't seem to sweat the details quite so much.
This is very much a novel of the turn of OUR century, and to me one significant theme is life without walls. Blue knows she has a great deal of freedom in life--but the Midwesterner in her also knows she pays for what she gets. Her relationship with Rox comes at a price, as does living in the desert. Sleuthing, as opposed to merely being a professorial type or a consultant, comes with huge risks, but she loves them. The novel threatens a huge upheaval in Rox and Blue's lives, but Blue seems ready to deal with that. She has instant communication, but with that comes 24/7 on-call status. Gone are the days when Philip Marlow could hole up in a bar all afternoon and figure things out.
I read a fair number of mysteries and I think "The Last Blue Plate Special" is quite good. If the book would be ruined for you by a couple of pages' worth of "this is contemporary lesbian life" ruminations sprinkled through the book, and maybe five lines of mere allusion to lesbian lovemaking, don't buy it. I had hoped the American public was more mature, but I know there are exceptions.
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