Customer Reviews

Penance: A Holland Taylor Mystery

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Holland Taylor, the likeable P.I. in this new series, is a former St. Paul, MN Homicide detective. He quit the force after his wife and daughter were killed by a drunk driver. Now that driver is out of prison and when he's found dead, Taylor is a logical suspect. Then when he sets out to clear his name he uncovers an elaborate series of plots and counter plots, involving Minnesotta politics, police wrong doing, bookies & bettors, lesbians, etc. It all gets to be a little much, but a first time novelist can surely be forgiven for pulling out all the stops; after all, who knows if there'll be a second book in which to use leftover plotlines.

The characterization of Taylor is a little uneven, as Housewright struggles with balancing hard-boiled conventions with totally unnecessary 90's political correctness, but I enjoyed the book, especially the unusual Twin Cities setting and I look forward to more from Mr. Housewright.

GRADE: B-

"Penance" is the first Holland Taylor novel by David Housewright. This book won the Edgar Award for the Best First Novel. PI Holland Taylor has lost his wife and daughter to a drunk driver. When the driver of the car, John Brown, is found murdered, the police think Holland is the prime suspect. To clear his name, he begins to search for the real killer. Every avenue he looks into leads to C. C. Monroe, a candidate for the governor of Minnesota. The plot is rather complex, but I really liked the novel and the character of Holland Taylor who has some personal demons that he struggles to deal with. I especially enjoyed the parts with Ogilvy, his pet rabbit, because we own a male lop-eared rabbit. This is an excellent debut novel, and I look forward to reading the next 2 Holland Taylor novels.

I couldn't believe there were no reviews for this book. David Housewright is one of the best mystery fiction writers I have read. His stories are fast paced, witty and exceptionally well plotted. There are two other Holland Taylor mysteries equally excellent.

Private investigator Holland Taylor finds himself drawn into the campaign of a ditsy gubernatorial candidate in Minnesota. Anyone can be governor of Minnesota, especially when their opponents have scandals in their personal lives. The murder of an ex-con who had served time for killing Taylor's wife and child while the man was driving drunk puts some suspicion on Taylor. His own investigation of the murder leads into the gubernatorial campaign.

When he is hired to recover a video tape, supposedly being used for blackmail, Taylor stumbles into a string of dead bodies. The tape has some surprising (or should I say revealing) details of the candidate. There are some side comments or inferences about how some women worked their way through college. Some people want the tape revealed, and others want it destroyed.

The story concludes with some surprising revelations. Along the way there are some digressions into a problem Taylor's bookie is having with a card sharp. Taylor has his own ways of dispensing justice when evidence will not support criminal prosecution.

I write mainly because the previous review of "4" is way off base. "Penance" isn't perfect, but a lot of fun ... definitely a goodly-twisted plot. As a transplanted Minnesotan I must say the local desciptions are well done with a hell of a lot more detail (in both geography AND plot) then Mary Higgen Clark's "Pretend You Don't See Her" ... you KNOW Housewright has at least set foot in the state. Housewright is following well John Sandford's large shadow.

I like this character (Holland Taylor) from David Housewright. He may not be completely original but I like his smart mouth and I like a P.I. that knows how to defend himself. There were plot twists aplenty here and I thoroughly enjoyed the ride. I look forward to the next Holland Taylor (Don't call him Holly!)book.
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The fact Housewright won the Edgar Award for a First Mystery Novel for Penance says it all.

This is a very strong debut with credible plot twists all the way through. The protagonist is likable and he injects enough of Minneapolis-St.Paul into the story line to make people who don't live there interested in the locale.

What kept this from being a 5 starrating ? Well, compare it to Every Dead Thing by John Connolly. That is a five star debut!

Unfortunately, to my mind Connolly has not repeated the magic of his debut in his subsequent works. I haven't gotten hold of Housewright's three subsequent works (yet), but here is to hoping he develops the Holland Taylor series well.

The plot is over-involved and Taylor needed a little more dimensionality. Even the character admits to his occasional TSTL moments. But the story is fast-paced with some wonderful moments and is a very credible first book. Having read one of his recent books of a new series, I do know he's an author worth reading. That said, I do recommend this book and look forward to reading the next two in the Taylor series.

Despite having won the Edgar Award, "Penance" left me disappointed. Holland Taylor, a Private Investigator who was formerly a homicide detective in Minnesota, starts off as an interesting character and the plot seems to hold promise. However, as the book proceeds, Taylor rapidly becomes less sympathetic, and his facile observations on life become grating. Morever, the plot twists are generally uninteresting, with the story ending in a whimper rather than a bang. Perhaps there's better work down the road for David Housewright, but I found this to be an unimpressive start

There are flashes of solid writing in Housewright's "Penance," but it's difficult to get past all the "tough-guy private investigator" cliches to truly appreciate them. Holland Taylor is an combination of every bad TV cop/private eye you can think of, from his expertise in the martial arts to his adversarial relationship with the police. Though many of the reviews on the book's cover laud Housewright's "cleverly twisted plot," I found it to be convoluted and far-fetched. Housewright even caps his string of cliches by gathering all of the suspects into one room at the story's climax and allowing Holland Taylor to explain it all. In spite of this, the book is well paced and, at times, enjoyable. I hope in his next book that Housewright can give Holland Taylor a little more personality than the fact that he's a Minnesota Twins fan with a dead wife and kid.