Till the Butchers Cut Him Down [Mass Market Paperback]

Marcia Muller (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1995

T.J. Gordon has made millions as a corporate troubleshooter who creates profits and enemies while reviving failed businesses. From the moment he whisks P.I. Sharon McCone off in his helicopter, complaining of threats and sabotage, her life is changed. The trail of his past leads McCone from a Nevada tourist trap to a Pennsylvania steel town.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

While Muller continues to reveal new facets of character in her San Francisco PI, Sharon McCone, this latest case, the 15th, is considerably tamer than the Mexican border skirmishing featured in her 1993 Edgar-nominated A Wolf in the Shadows. McCone has just left the All-Souls Legal Cooperative and opened her own business when an eccentric friend from her UC-Berkeley days, who now specializes in rescuing failing corporations, asks her to find out who is sabotaging his efforts to save a San Francisco shipping firm and threatening his life. T. J. "Suitcase" Gordon reports some odd accidents, but McCone suspects that the obsessively private man may also be paranoid. She meets Gordon's wife Anna, who could have been her sister ("we looked that much alike"), but then an explosion destroys the Gordons' secluded northern California home, leaving Anna dead. With Gordon in reclusive mourning, Sharon investigates two of his past projects, one in a revived Nevada ghost town and another at a moribund steel center in Pennsylvania. Unearthing possible revenge motives and another murder victim, she draws the killer's malevolent attention to herself back in San Francisco. A final, abrupt climax caps this adventure, whose cast--outside of always amiable Sharon, her eager, troublesome nephew/assistant and her barely glimpsed lover, Hy Ripinsky--is a generally unengaging lot. Mystery Guild selection.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Problems of the heart, ambivalent feelings of independence, and acute observations of reality lend investigator Sharon McCone a solid and enduring foundation of credibility. The San Francisco series heroine opens McCone Investigations with the bizarre case of a long-ago friend and onetime lover who believes someone wants him dead. McCone must first separate truth from fantasy, since the highly paid but lonely corporate turnaround man may just be paranoid, imagining several attempts on his life. Muller (Pennies on a Dead Woman's Eyes, LJ 6/1/92) maintains her exemplary high standards: great female private eye, smooth flowing narrative, and riveting plot.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (August 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446603023
• ISBN-13: 978-0446603027
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,146,436 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

MARCIA MULLER has written many novels and short stories. Her novel "Wolf in the Shadows" won the Anthony Boucher Award. The recipient of the Private Eye Writers of America's Lifetime Achievement Award and the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Award - their highest accolade - she lives in northern California with her husband, mystery writer Bill Pronzini.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sharon McCone Sets Up Her Own Agency, May 19, 2000

By 

Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 109,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Till the Butchers Cut Him Down (Mass Market Paperback)

Sharon McCone is one of the top detective characters of all time. This book is a critical one in the series, because Sharon moves out of All Soul's to start her own business. This change is a critical one in developing her self-confidence, her relationship with her family and with Hy, and in making the stories more interesting. If you want to read the newer novels, you really should read this one first.

This story must set some kind of record for unexpected twists. I won't go into detail for obvious reasons, but no one and nothing are what they seem. Unlike a lot of mysteries where all of the twisting and resolution occurs in the next to the last or the last chapter, the complications come fast and furious throughout the book.

The main story line relates to an old Berkeley friend of Sharon's reading about her new agency, and sending a helicopter to pick her up. He's now a big corporate turnaround specialist and is working on a deal in the Bay area. But someone seems to be trying to scare or possibly kill him. Why? Who? Those are just the beginning of the mysteries that Sharon must solve.

Along the way, she learns a lot of unexpected things about her client and herself. For example, she flees a romantic 39th birthday with Hy to pursue a lead for her client. Now that's dedication to duty.

In addition to being very well plotted, the characters are at their most appealing. This is one of Marcia Muller's best works! Enjoy!

3.0 out of 5 stars Not My Favorite Sharon McCone Mystery, May 18, 2011

By 

Barbara J. Mitchell "Rural View" (Hallstead, PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Till the Butchers Cut Him Down (Mass Market Paperback)

I've been reading Marcia Muller for years but in no particular order. Whenever I see one of her Sharon McCone series books at a book sale that I haven't read, I buy it. I still have one more in my TBR stack. The reason is that they always are entertaining and I like McCone.

Till the Butchers Cut Him Down is the first one I've read that disappointed me. I'm not sure why. I still like McCone and I find her life interesting. I enjoy her trials and tribulations with her nephew Mick. This story is set when McCone first opens her own business, renting an office from her previous employer, All Souls Legal Cooperative. Her sister has sent Mick to stay with her because they aren't getting along. He's 17 and a computer wizard, which is convenient because McCone has decided to finally enter the computer age. Her boyfriend Hy is off on mysterious business in this one and she's wondering if they will last.

With all of this going on, the last thing she needs is for her first client to be a man out of her past who is anything but likeable or easy to get along with. T. J. Gordon is known to her as "Suits," shortened from Suitcase because when McCone was in college he traveled around with a ratty old suitcase and sold pot. Now he's a multimillionaire who takes companies in big trouble and turns them around, usually successfully.

The story is set in California, a place fittingly called Lost Hope, Nevada, and a former steel town in Pennsylvania called Monora. Then there is Suits' mansion and guest house on the northern California coast. Maybe that's the problem. It jumps from place to place, Suits is a very jumpy person with absolutely no consideration for others, and I was simply uncomfortable reading about him. The story didn't hold my interest like Muller's novels normally do.

This is not to say that it's bad. Not at all. It just didn't fit my mood or something, but you may really like it. I always recommend Muller for a good read, even if like me you read the series out of order.

4.0 out of 5 stars An Intelligent Mystery, April 8, 2009

By 

Bonnie Brody "Book Lover and Knitter" (Port St. Lucie, FL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Till the Butchers Cut Him Down (Mass Market Paperback)

This is an intelligent mystery. Sharon McCone, sleuth, goes into the private eye business for herself. Her first customer is an old friend from her 60's days in Berkeley. This friend is now in the business of doing turn-arounds for companies facing bankruptcy. Is someone out to kill him or is he paranoid from too many years of drug use?

This is a good page-turner, perfect for the beach, vacation or airplane.