Customer Reviews

Ransom for a Killing

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Ben Harvey just can't catch a break. Eight years ago, he was convicted of raping his Chicago schoolmate Laura Shay, largely on the strength of the scratches she left on his face when he saw her walking dazed and weeping down the street and tried to help her. Now that a DNA test unavailable during his trial has proved his innocence and sprung him from jail, shiftless, alcoholic Laura's been strangled, leaving Ben another legacy of trouble as detective Jeremy Ransom's prime suspect. Yet Ransom's honorary grandmother Emily Charters insists there's more to the case than a simple revenge killing. Why did Laura lie about her attacker's identity? Why did she try in vain to keep the rapist's child? Where did her downtrodden parents get the money to send her away to college, and why did she return home before finishing? And (the biggest question of all) if Ben Harvey didn't assault Laura, who did, and what's he been doing for the past eight years? Though the few suspects--Laura's amorous boss, her disdainful school friends, the rich kid she had a hopeless crush on--are so sketchy and briefly onstage that not even the rapist leaves much of an impression, the resolute focus on these few leading questions gives normally low-key Ransom (Ransom for a Holiday, 1997, etc.) his sharpest, most urgent case yet.

Although this is the first book I've read by this writer, it's not his first.

The story begins with a young Black man -- still in high school -- and a young White woman -- also a high school student -- who is raped. She accuses him of the rape, and the circumstances are such that there is some physical evidence to support the accusation. Many years later, DNA evidence exonerates him and he is released from jail. When shortly afterwards she is found murdered, it would be obvious to suspect this young man. The detective investigating the case -- and to a lesser extent, his partner -- are not going to jump to conclusions, and begin to look for another suspect. That requires going back in time to the original crime, to understand who did rape this woman and why she falsely accused a young man she knew and must have known was not the rapist.

Although about half-way through the book, I did have inklings of who had killed this young woman, the ending was still a surprise and masterfully done. The Chicago setting is well described (I lived there for many years) and the characters interesting and three-dimensional. I intend to read more by this author.

In the detecting team of Chicago cop Jeremy Ransom and Emily Charter's, Jeremy's elderly and beloved friend, there exists an unlikely yet beguiling pairing of the young and the not so young, the streetwise and the sweetly intuitive. Charters's razor-sharp mind flourished despite her limited fram of reference; Ransom is unusually erudite and proper for a city cop. Ransom does the bulk of the legwork; in this absorbing case, he's intent on unraveling the interlocking destinies of Laura Shay and Ben Harvey, the man whom Laura accused of rape nine years ago. Ben was convicted and imprisoned, but the results of a new DNA test have now set him free. Shortly after his release, Laura if found murdered and Ben, naturally, falls under suspicion. Ben has been traumatized by nearly a decade of incarceration, while Laura was known to be both promiscuous and a second-generation drunk, who mysteriously came into some money soon after Ben's conviction. After Laura's mother dies an untimely death, Ransom is convinced that finding the identity of the true rapist will lead him to the murderer. Charters doesn't have much of a presence in this fifth in the series (which follows Ransom for a Holiday, 1997) beyond noting an odd turn of phrase in Ben's first televised interview after his release. The mutual devotion between Ransom and Charters continues to be both chaste and charming, however, and contrasts dramatically with the tone of the plot, which features doings that are notably darker and tougher than thos ein earlier books in the series.

In Chicago, nine years ago, Laura Shay accuses Ben Harvey of raping her. Ben was convicted and sent to prison. Recently, DNA testing proves that Ben never committed the crime. He is released from jail, but the idealist who entered prison is a lifetime away from the person being freed. However, matters for Ben turn worse when his accuser is murdered on his first day of freedom. Law enforcement officials believe Ben, out of vengeance, committed the act.

However, police officer Jeremy Ransom refuses to rush to judgment, thinking that the original rapist might be the killer. With the help of his partner, septuagenarian Emily Charters, he begins to search for the unknown assailant, who he thinks is the killer.

The fifth Ransom-Charters novel, like the previous four tales, is a great blending of a police procedural with an amateur sleuth story, even though Emily's role is a bit less than usual. The dark story line is first rate but tempered by the warm, respectful, and devoted relationship between the lead characters, normally found in a pure cozy. With RANSOM FOR A KILLING, Fred Hunter continues to provide readers with a marvelous mix that turn his tales into a fun time.

Harriet Klausner