Secondhand Smoke [Paperback]

Karen E. Olson (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Mysterious Press (1976)
• ASIN: B000V6VL24
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Arson in Wooster Square, April 13, 2007

By 

Debra Hamel (North Haven, CT) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Secondhand Smoke (Hardcover)

Secondhand Smoke is the second installment in Karen E. Olson's series of journalism procedurals. (See my review of Olson's Sacred Cows, the first book in the series.) Her protagonist, Annie Seymour, is a crime reporter for the New Haven Herald (the fictional stand-in for the author's former real-life employer, the New Haven Register). Annie lives in New Haven's historic Italian section, Wooster Square, the home of a great number of Italian restaurants, including a pair of nationally celebrated pizzerias. This time around her work keeps her close to home: an early-morning fire consumes the restaurant across from her brownstone, and a dead body is found in its ashes. The crimes bring the FBI, the mob, and Annie's enigmatic step-father to town. Annie investigates the arson and murder--her neighbors closing ranks to keep her in the dark about what's really been going on--while navigating an uncertain relationship with Vinnie DeLucia--marine biologist turned private eye--whom we encountered already in the first book of the series.

Annie is a hard-edged character, a bit foul-mouthed, callous and world-weary, and sick of her job after years of reporting on New Haven's criminal class. She seems to go to some trouble to hide her humanity from herself and others, but it's not clear to me precisely why she so armors herself. It's true that her relationship with her mother is strained, and her job as a reporter necessarily distances her from would-be newsmakers who don't want their peccadilloes showing up in the paper. The job contributes to Annie's identity as an outsider in her own neighborhood. But I'm not sure these sufficiently explain her cynical detachment. It would be nice, at any rate, to see her character develop some emotional nuance in subsequent outings.

Olson offers up a decent mystery her second time out, with a twist at the end you almost certainly won't see coming. And as with the first book--and as a New Haven native--I much appreciate that her series is so firmly rooted in the area: Wooster Square and the Q Bridge and Claire's Cornucopia figuring as backdrops this time around, Yale's Sterling Library and Sleeping Giant State Park in book one. I look forward to seeing where the next Annie Seymour mystery takes us.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great follow-up to Sacred Cows, January 7, 2008

By 

Cheryl A. Reynolds "Spuddie" (Minneapolis, MN, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Secondhand Smoke (Hardcover)

Second in the Annie Seymour, reporter in New Haven, CT mystery series. When a restaurant in Annie's neighborhood burns down with a body inside, everyone assumes it was the owner, Sal, since he is missing. But when it turns out to be his bookkeeper and assistant, LeAnn--AND the autopsy reveals that she'd been shot, the chase is on to figure out who killed her. Of course Annie's ex-boyfriend Tom, a police detective, is on the case. And Sal's wife hires PI Vinnie DeLucia (Annie's wanna-be boyfriend--who's engaged to someone else) to find him. And of course Annie herself is nosing around trying to find the real story for the newspaper. Then her father, a casino owner, shows up out of the blue from Las Vegas. Why? Her father's connection to the case is another mystery--and one that Annie isn't sure she wants to know the answers to.

And what is with all the references to the chickens? "Are the chickens dead, too?" a seemingly crazy man asks Annie the night of the fire. Huh? The last book had cows, this one has chickens--if the next one has pigs, I'm going to start singing "ei-ei-o" and thinking maybe Old MacDonald is a serial killer! LOL

This book was as enjoyable as the first book in the series with a bad guy that I didn't figure out until the last minute, though the clues were there had I chosen to assimilate them. This is such an unusual occurance for me (I typically spot the bad guy very early on) that when it happens, I always sit up and take notice. There is some romance/sexual tension but it's done well and not sappy or over-the-top, nor does it dominate the book. Thank heavens, because nothing will turn me off faster than a romance novel disguised as a mystery. The quirky, somewhat adult-flavored humor is also well-done and not "forced" which is another turn-off of mine.

This is an all-around excellent read. I like Annie a lot and am very interested in seeing how her character develops over the course of the series. The setting in the book is also very picturesque. I've never been to New Haven, CT but Olson's descriptions assure me that she is very familiar with the area and make me want to visit, especially for the food. I wonder if the Chamber of Commerce has her on their payroll? If they don't, perhaps they should! :-)

2.0 out of 5 stars a fair read, April 26, 2008

By 

Kate "book lover" (Tn.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Secondhand Smoke (Hardcover)

I admit that being a serial reader I like to follow up and read the author's newest book. Having read Sacred Cows and thought it was a good effort, I was a little disapointed in Secondhand Smoke. The characters are one dimensional and somewhere along the line the author Ms Olson got the idea that a lot of cursing would an adult hardboiled mystery make.The cursing coming out of these characters mouths is gratuitous and makes for silly and awkward sentences. She is very descriptive about food and that too gets overdone as the character seems to eat as much as she cusses. Unfortunately I have the third book to read and am not too eager to get started. The book jacket on SecondHand Smoke quotes a review saying that Chicago has Sara Paretsky,Santa Barbara has Sue Grafton, and Philadelphia has Lisa Scottoline and now New Haven has its own mystery writer in Karen Olson. My question does New Haven really want to claim her. Maybe as time goes by the author will learn to flesh out her characters and develope well constructed plots.