MURDER OFF MIKE [Hardcover]

Joyce Krieg (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Unknown (2003)
• ASIN: B0028Q6OMW
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)

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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outta Sight!, January 8, 2004

By 

Mark Baker (Santa Clarita, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Murder Off Mike: A Talk Radio Mystery (Hardcover)

It's a typical afternoon on the Shauna J. Bogart show until Rudy from West Sacramento calls in. He claims to have seen someone carrying out the body of fellow talk show host Dr. Hipster. Since he is Shauna's best friend and mentor, Shauna doesn't find the call at all funny. Just in case, she sends Glory Lou, the station news force, to check it out. She's devastated to learn that it is indeed true. Even more disturbing is the fact that the police are calling it a suicide, and the suicide note makes it seem that Shauna is to blame. Knowing that can't be the case, she starts to investigate, starting with the show that Dr. Hipster had planned for that night. It seems to be a standard show with information about the current governor's race in California. What had Dr. Hipster learned that lead to his death? With constant clues coming in that don't make any sense, Shauna may be facing more then she bargained for.

When I learned that this book was a St. Martin's Press winner, I had to give it a try. And I wasn't disappointed. The clues come fast and furious, but just lead me around in circles. I was so hooked I stayed up way too late two nights in a row to get "just a little further." Shauna and her friends are fun characters. I enjoyed getting to know them and hope the entire gang is around for the sequel. And the setting, a local talk radio station, is interesting. The author's many years in the business are evident as facts are put in smoothly to bring the story more vividly to life. I will add that the first couple of chapters seem a little rough, but once I got past those, everything smoothed out and I never looked back.

I do have two serious complaints about this book. First, I didn't read it sooner. Second, I don't see how the author will ever top this fun, intriguing first effort. I won't be too surprised if this wins the Agatha award this year and will be shocked if it's not at least nominated for best first novel. It certainly deserves it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fun Romp, May 6, 2003

By 

D. West "Rivergoat" (Los Gatos, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Murder Off Mike: A Talk Radio Mystery (Hardcover)

In the world of radio, one lives by the airwaves, but in Murder Off Mike, one dies by them, too. Sacramento, California talk show host Shauna J. Bogart takes on a case to prove what really happened to her fellow talk radio star, Dr. Hipster, and keep herself from becoming the next obituary. From the first few pages the story gets going and remains engrossing throughout. A truly fun tale, with a few inside looks at the world of radio today. A fine work from author Krieg.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun First Book!, April 17, 2006

By 

Warren Kelly (Southern Ohio) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Murder Off Mike: A Talk Radio Mystery (Paperback)

Crazy people call talk radio shows, and Shauna J. Bogart loves every bit of it. Conspiracy theories, arguments, idiot callers-these are the stock in trade of the talk jock.

But when one of her callers says he's witnessed a murder-the murder of a fellow talk-radio personality and a good friend-things change. Especially after the wound is deemed self-inflicted by the police. Shauna knows better, and she decides to find out exactly what is going on.

This debut mystery novel is a compelling read. The details offered into the business of radio are realistic and plausible (evidence of the author's prior work in radio in the Sacramento area). The characterizations for the main characters are thorough-if not a bit too detailed; I wonder what we can possibly learn about the main characters in subsequent books, with the detailed backstory we are given in this one. The reader may think that the details in the story are too much, but they are essential to parts of the plotline. The description of the setting is similarly detailed-I felt pretty familiar with the area once I finished the book.

My one problem with this book is the characterizations of those people who are not going to be in future books-not really minor characters, since one is the villain of the book, but not really major characters either, because the detail of description present in every other aspect of the book is absent here. The instant I met the villain of the story, I knew that they were going to be behind everything-just by the way they were written. This made the rest of the book almost anti-climactic, since I was simply waiting to see the murderer revealed. Each new clue made me say "Yep-I was right!!" It's nice to be correct about the solution to a murder mystery-but not halfway through the book.

This book was an impulse purchase-I was looking for a change from the steady diet of science fiction I had been reading, and this mystery was a welcome change. I'm looking forward to reading Krieg's next offering in this series.