A murdered red head in France, and a third found in the room Nikki Rourke was to use all add up to a whole lot more than Corbin Douglas had bargained for. Corbin's old partner Charlie Miller is drawn into the case, each of the murdered women have a tie to Rourke, a tie to billionaire Forrest Gray and a tie to the owner of a new club: the Scarlet Ribbon. It is up to Charlie and Corbin to try to sort it all out before another red head comes up dead.
A mob hit against a red head, an auction at Sothebys, Nikki hides out in the old family estate, The Blue Gibson blues club, a chance meeting, wedding in the planning goes awry when the wedding planner comes up missing, Corbin suffers amnesia, Charlie issues a warning, helpful neighbors, a woman's body is fished out of the Hudson River, a secret wall safe, a break in, the wedding of the century and a confession of murder all figure in the tale.
With the advent of The Shadow of Her Smile Writer Taylor-Murray has produced another in her exciting succession of complex narratives filled with energetic, engaging characters, thrill a minute story line rounded out with twists and turns in addition to varied and efficacious motivations. Hard hitting dialogue filled with convincing passion set against an atmosphere overflowing with manipulation, mendacity and maneuvering moves the narrative along at breakneck speed.
As we have come to expect from her previous works, Taylor-Murray's characters are robust, often precipitate and always filled with the human frailty, faults and imperfections common to us all. The reader is caught up in the narrative from the opening paragraphs as writer Taylor-Murray sets down a vivid picture of the New York City environs in which Corbin Douglas and Charlie Miller reside and work.
Reader interest is held fast in this roller coaster ride teeming with homicide, disingenuousness, and cupidity from opening lines to the last paragraphs as we face the faceless terror with Nikki, the harsh reality of death and deceit with Charlie Miller and Corbin Douglas' grappling with trying to remember who he is and what he is doing at the Rourke Estate.
Writer Taylor-Murray has grown in her writing, I have reviewed many of her narratives and would rate this one as the best of the lot. The Shadow of Her Smile is true to the genre, has a reader friendly, credible plot, the narrative holds reader interest and is filled with plausible characters readers can support or ridicule with balanced ebullience.
Corbin Douglas - PI, Former New York City Homicide Detective his former partner and best friend Charlie Miller - New York City Homicide Detective are an interesting duo I hope to see in more works from the fertile mind of writer Taylor-Murray. The Shadow of Her Smile is not for everyone there is some profanity and some graphic sex. Happy to recommend for those who enjoy the genre.
Reviewed by: Molly Martin
