Customer Reviews

Murder on Embassy Row

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

 

 

Margaret Truman is getting better with each book. Here she's gone beyond the limiting format (that was getting annoying in her previous books) of having a tough-as-nails but cuddly-as-a-kitten heroine solve the crimes. The plotting in "Embassy Row" is much more carefully crafted, as British Ambassador Geoffrey James dies after his own party under mysterious circumstances. This is the first of Truman's books where you won't have guessed the villain by about 50 pages in. The characters are a bit better, but Truman's efforts at cop-talk and cop-walk still fall woefully short. Hero Sal Morizio makes lots of dumb naive mistakes for a veteran big city detective. He's the least credible of all the characters. Truman also plays some of the same riffs as in her previous books: she spends a lot of time describing D.C. cafes and restaurants, but is woefully uninformed about how government offices actually operate. For example, there is no "British Liaison office at the State Department", and CIA isn't called "the Company" by anyone but callow writers. But the very worst and most annoying mistake in the book is Truman's repeated and insistent assertion that Iranians are Arabs. They aren't, they're Muslim but not Arab.

Overall, "Embassy Row" is better than "Supreme Court" or "White House", but there's still lots of room for improvement.

What is it about the British that has so soured Truman? I have not read a book by her in which any of the British characters were nice. Here the prime nasties are all British, from the murder victim ~ the Ambassador ~ to the planner and executer of the cover-up and the people who end up giving our protagonist clues. The only Britons of any attraction are incidentals who wander in and out of the book in a page or two. Sadly, this is not my only complaint about the book: I don't like Truman's insistance on some details ~ locations, specific stores, clothing ~ which she uses to establish her credibility. Nor has she invented an even plausible plot ~ the British Ambassador to Iran knew weeks beforehand about the Ayatollah's takeover in '79, including the plan to capture the American embassy, and the only use he made of the information was to plan a smuggling operation? Please. Stick to biography.

I love the venue of M. Truman's mysteries. She a first rate writer. The many twists held my interest until it ended.

The story line was interesting, the characters were well developed, some details were fuzzy, but I enjoyed the story up until the end - but not the end. There was no denouement, it just ended right after the climax; then it skipped ahead months and became a wedding announcement. It seemed that the author just wanted to be done with it, and never tied up any of the loose ends. Bad guy shot & killed a good guy - The End. There should have been about 5 pages more to close the story. Either she was tired of the story and just wanted to be done with it early, or thought the wedding announcement would be a "cute" finish, but her readers deserve better. It was a very novice trick.

I'm not happy with the size of the book and the dustjacket is torn. I know it was a used book, book all the other used books I buy are in a better condition.

This is an excellent story of the diplomatic side of Washington D.C. and the twisted tales that people get involved in from time to time. The story is wove around several embassies and their role in a plot that involves the death of an ambassador of a prominent embassy which turns out to be a murder. The murder weapon is unique and adds to the intrigue of the story as it unfolds. The reader is easily captivated into the story and there is a very unexpected ending. In all, the book is extremely well written with action and mystery written into every chapter. I'd recommend the book to any reader who enjoys a good fictional murder mystery.

Geoffrey James is the British Ambassador. His earlier posting had been Iran. Geoffrey James dies. His personal valet, Nuri Hafez, disappears. Salvatore Morizio, MPD, and Connie Lake work together.

Morizio finds that his morgue is invaded by the British. The ambassador was poisoned by ricin it is determined, one of the world's most toxic substances. Captain Morizio is ordered to appear at a press conference. In the announcement of the death, America is dubbed the host country. Next it develops that Nuri Hafez is designated the murderer and a warrant is issued for his arrest.

This is well written and exciting.

I have read Ms Truman's books before and I was very disaapointed with this one. It starts out well but hten fizzles right after the Ambassador is murdered. I think that the author should have done her research first and foremost. I would think that someone such as Margaret Truman would know that IRANIANS ARE NOT ARABS and IRANIANS DO NOT SPEAK ARABIC. On top of this, there was just too much rambling in this book. I was skipping pages because either dialogue was too long and drawn out or she spent far too long setting up the seen with some unbelievable characters such as diplomats who repeatedly kept referring to the manners and customs of Arabs when speaking about Iran- or the vague descriptions of the Capsian region, of which her diplomats were supposed to be knowledgeable. Her characters were unbelievable despite her confusion regarding the ethnicities. The love story was more of a distraction rather than an enhancement to the overall story.
I would not reccomend this book unless there were nothing else to read in the house.

Who killed the person? Truman isthe only one who knows. Her expertise in mystery is first rate!

Once again, Margaret Truman has shared her intimate knowledge of Washington, D. C., governmental politics, and international diplomacy create a credible additional to her spectular crime series. The dialog is real and the story moves along swiftly because of it. This is a mystery that mystery lovers should enjoy.