Customer Reviews

Other People's Houses

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Other People's Houses, by Susan Rogers Cooper, continues the Chief Deputy Milt Kovak series well. Milt is back in Prophesy County, Oklahoma, with his sister Jewel and her children (see Houston in the Rear View Mirror) living with him. They had never been close, and there are the to-be-expected problems in consolidating households. Milt's very human reactions and comments (he's the narrator) create the sense of a real person, a well-meaning man doing the best he can in less than optimal circumstances at home and at work. Strengths of the series are the well-developed characters and the realistic relationships between them.

When the Bell family is found dead of carbon monoxide poisoning in horrific surroundings at their rented home, Kovak doubts the obvious suicide-accident scenario because Lois Bell has an unexplained blow to the head. Investigation shows that the family does not exist in any records before 1986 (the date of the book is 1990 approximately), leading Kovak to conclude that they had been in the federal Witness Protection Program, so he keeps digging. The plot is logical with appropriate clues to the ultimate solution.

A great strength of this series is its atmosphere. Small-town, regional rhythms and language add to the realism. Cooper does a good job of conveying the violence and gore to which Kovak is exposed at crime scenes without going into graphic detail, which I appreciate. Highly recommended series.

Having recently been introduced to this author, Susan Rogers Cooper, I have been intrigued to

read some of her earlier work. She has other mystery stories by groups, with different heroes. The

" Milt Kovak Mysteries" are the one's I wish to follow.

A rather elderly lady handed me this paperback as I was leaving the local library..she was through with

this particular donated book and was passing it along to me. Being caught off guard by someone handing

me something free, I quickly glanced at the picture on the front cover and thought it odd that a woman

of that age would be reading vampire novels. Having gone through that particular genre earlier in life,

I carried the book home with me to make a decision on what to do with it.

As I'd been through a bout or two with the blood thirsty cult stories,

this latest batch of the genre was not of much interest to me. But on closer inspection, this was

not at all what I thought it was. No vampire novel, this.

A mystery! As I made a decision to read this particular book, I was so caught up in the story-line, I

realized if I didn't put it down, I'd have nothing to look forward to the next day. Well, I savored the

tale and was wanting to consume more of this authors' works. So I went to the internet, to see if

Amazon.com would have any of her titles. Yes, they had other selections at many price points. I

ordered on-line and waited patiently for the books to come.

"Other People's Houses" is one in the series of "A Milt Kovak Mystery". As was the first little

gem I received for free!

The whispered comments by Kovak are perhaps the most helpful ingredient

in keeping a homicide story from being too dark. How she came up with his "asides" (seeming to be distinctively male)

I haven't a clue (pun intended); but a clever ploy to look forward to.

She gives many hints in this tale to take you down a few paths thinking you're on the way to discovering

a possible solution to the plot.

Later, much later in the story, you can see where it's going, but there's still loose ends. I did not yet

have the killer fingered. So many choices, twists and turns, perhaps too many possible villains

to pick from. It starts off with a bang, a little slow in the middle, but worth the time.

If it wasn't for the comedic relief of Kovak, this book would have been just another Plain Jane story. She has a

winner with Milt Kovak, the lawman detective who likes a quiet, slower pace of the setting out in the

boonies. He's had to struggle with crime in a larger venue, and you could obviously tell he was more

at ease in the "green, green grass of home."