Customer Reviews

Time of Death

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This is the fifth book in Shirley Kennett's riveting series
featuring PJ Gray and in the opinion of this fan, the best so far. Her story centers on PJ Gray, a virtual reality specialist who consults with the St. Louis Police Department and is the head of a team of 3 police detectives who solve high-profile murder cases with a combination of old-fashioned procedural police work and high-tech virtual reality simulations. Let me briefly tell you about the fascinating virtual reality world PJ employs, since this is a unique aspect of the Kennett series. You do not have to be a computer genius to go with PJ into the simulation since Kennett has a knack for clearly explaining what is happening without speaking down to the reader. These simulations feature genman, genwoman, gengirl, genboy and genbaby as well as generic houses, cars, and other locations and are programmed by PJ to match the particulars of the crime. The author has also instilled an fascinating artificial intelligence aspect to the simulations, in which the program suggests the most likely outcomes/novel outcomes/possibilities.

This case involves an extended family, in particular well-to-do sisters, and ranges over generations and locales. Most of Kennett's books are set in the St. Louis area and this story follows suit. The settings are so vivid and realistic that I can smell the onions when PJ opens the door of Millie's diner! Time of Death begins with the discovery of a mangled corpse on the St. Louis levee near the Arch. The first setting in every PJ Gray book is a shocking introduction to the story and this one is no exception. You will be hooked and rush to continue reading the story to see the outcome of the case.

PJ is a middle-aged mother of a teenage son (Thomas), whose husband left her for a younger woman. PJ picked up the pieces of her life, loaded her son into her car and moved to St. Louis to start a new life. She is attracted to the experienced detective Leo Schultz who is assigned to work with her. Their developing relationship gives yet another aspect to the series, a romantic and emotional overtone based on mature attraction and concern for bringing up Thomas properly in this day and age. In this story, Thomas strays into danger from following onling role-playing gaming to a dangerous conclusion.

Every family has secrets, right? Discover one family's secrets in this well-written, realistic and gripping story.

In St. Louis psychologist Dr. Penelope Jennifer "PJ" Gray never expected to be involved with the police as she is now, but her Computer Homicide Investigation Program (CHIP) has proven so successful, she is an adjunct on murder inquiries. The single mom of a teen, PJ provides virtual reality forensics to crime scenes and is seeing on and off her partner homicide detective Leo Schultz, who recently has been sarcastic with her.

Their current case involves the brutal Metro Mangler as they dub him who abuses his or her victim, the latest being realtor Arlen Merritt, whose penis was removed. The spouse seems odd in how she grieves her loss, but does not appear to have been the killer especially since she would need a lot more bulk to move the body as it was done. Another killing with much of the trademark of the Mangler occurs, but with major differences especially the cold precision without the heated frenzy of the Merritt murder. While Leo thinks two culprits are committing the crimes, PJ wonders if there is one clever murderer disguising the real motive with two disparate homicides.

TIME OF DEATH, the latest PJ Gray police procedural (see GRAY MATTER), is an interesting homicide investigative tale starring a fully developed team including the lead couple struggling with a difficult case made more complex with a second murderer. The story line moves mostly along the investigative track, but is brilliantly supplemented with the seemingly dysfunctional relationship between PJ and Leo as seen totally from her perspective. Though the heroine provides plenty of interesting observations, the use of CHIP is limited so that the forensic virtual reality program takes a back seat to old fashion sleuthing.

Harriet Klausner

I have read and loved each of her books. Shirley brings her characters to life. I look forward to her next book with great anticipation.

I started with the latest novel in the PJ Gray series so I'd be able to add my review during my Blog spotlight of Author Shirley Kennett/Dakota Banks. I must say I thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to reading the other books in the series. The JP Gray novels have a number of my favorite attractions--a strong female lead, a fun-to-watch romantic relationship with another unique character, futuristic use of computers in solving crimes, and a tense, fast-paced drama that succeeds in allowing me to escape into the action!

They say love is blind but that doesn't seem to be the case for Dr. Penelope Jennifer Gray (PJ Gray), psychologist and head of a special unit which uses virtual reality software, created by Dr. Gray, to help solve crimes. Detective Leo Schultz is the head "cop" in her unit and makes it quite clear to PJ that she is a civilian and that he leads the actual police work. In addition to the role issues, Leo is not exactly the man of a woman's dreams, but somehow the two have evolved into a relationship, and now not quite sure what to do with it. But PJ definitely knows what role she plays as Leo's boss and also is quite vocal to share about how he treats her in front of the other officers, how she is to be treated and addressed. Still, it seems the relationship just keeps going...

But in a family drama that PJ and her son faces, Leo proves just how he would be in the father role, as he comes to the rescue of Thomas who got in too deep with an online game group, with a member that has moved the role playing into reality and is out to gather gems that apparently Thomas is supposed to provide!

That could be part of the reason for the cool ending of this particular novel...

But in the meantime, PJ and Leo have a nude body--found, apparently dumped, along the river--with his face, chest, and genitals mutilated. It is very interesting to watch the photos of the body and scene, as well as gathered evidence entered into a simulation program which PJ then uses to run through "live" as potentially what happened. In the Afterword the author explains what is now available and used, but in her novel, PJ has added artificial intelligence which has the computer offering solutions as well. How Cool! Its use is illustrated quite effectively when, after finding the kill site, the method by which one person, or not, could have handled movement of the body is explored and confirmed.

As with many homicide investigations, family members are the first "persons of interest." I prefer the older less politically correct term, actually--suspect is a much more definitive term, don't you think?

And in this family, two sisters are quite willing to ensure the police consider "the other" sister as the most likely to have killed the dead man, Arlan Merrett. Readers soon find out that Arlan had been engaged to one sister when the other first met and worked to seduce him, and later married.

But there are many more options, including the man's business partner who received total control of their firm upon death and was found to have been having an affair with the deceased.

Step by step, more information is discovered and PJ faithfully feeds it into the program so that a total picture of what happened starts to unfold. Apparently, she was getting close because about that time attempts on PJ's life were made. The protective side of Leo about PJ was fun to watch, although PJ was not thrilled to have her every move monitored...

Discovering family secrets leads to the final solution of this case, but the step-by-step investigation of the crime scene activities was the highlight for me. The author definitely can weave a tale that keeps readers totally involved with the myriad of possibilities and the characters are so well defined that you just know that any one of the "suspects" could be guilty. Unfortunately, the body count began to rise, making the complexity that more of a problem for the police and there are two different types of murders so that the potential of multiple killers must be investigated.

Adding virtual reality to police procedure investigation just makes it better! Crime scene investigation at its finest, with a romance between an older couple which you just might be able to relate to, but definitely enjoy! What better way to spend a weekend! Highly recommended.


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