Customer Reviews

A Record of Death

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

 

 

Kate Bryan's plucky heroine, no doubt one of the few female private eyes in 1875 California, returns in an adventure only slightly less entertaining than her debut in Murder at Bent Elbow. This time around, Maggie Maguire and her cousin/partner Grady find themselves trapped with a group of apparent strangers on Cutthroat Island, an isolated resort. In typical murder mystery fashion, someone is picking off the characters, one by one . . .

Because the plot felt more like a conventional mystery, and because everything happened in an isolated setting that wasn't too different from resorts today, this installment lacked the distinctive historical feel of the first book. Ms. Bryan's colorful, entertaining characters made up for that, though. She creates vivid individuals that create strong impressions in the reader's mind. Maggie and Grady are fun to read about, and that's why I'm looking forward to their future adventures.

One quibble: it wouldn't break my heart to see the characters develop a little as the series progresses. In both books, Ms. Bryan drops hints about Maggie and Grady's lives when they aren't away solving crimes, but doesn't show us any more. I like Maggie and Grady, but I don't feel like I know enough about them to love them or be truly involved in their lives.

The multi-talented Maggie Maguire and her pickpocket cousin, Grady, are back on the job (if only accidentally), and they're a stitch in this very entertaining spin on Ten Little Indians. Grady is snidely sarcastic, as always, while Maggie solves the crime. Loved the bit with the snake in Grady's "convenience"! A rollicking good read!

This is a short quick read, a murder mystery set on an island off the Pacific Northwest in 1883. It's an isolated locale, so the number of suspects is limited. The characters are extremely colorful. The mystery-solving heroine is plucky, spunky, and feisty. She has a male cousin who helps her out. The story is satisfyingly complex. As with so many paperbacks these days, there are too many typos. (I found it very bizarre that one of the characters is named Phoebe, but it also spelled Pheobe way too many times.) It didn't take long to read, but I appreciated the cast of characters and kept thinking what a cute movie it would make. (If the story involves an old Edison wax cylinder player, why does the cover art give us a much later shellac disk and Victrola?)