Trophies and Dead Things (G K Hall Large Print Book Series) [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Marcia Muller (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1991 | Series: G K Hall Large Print Book Series

Another mystery featuring private investigator Sharon McCone. Four random killings take place in the San Fransisco Bay area, one of which is McCone's legal client, who has disinherited all his children in favour of four apparent strangers. As she tracks them down, a pattern emerges which leads back to Vietnam.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

San Francisco detective Sharon McCone ( The Shape of Dread ) uncovers murderous passions still simmering from the Vietnam anti-war movement when she undertakes an investigation into why a sniper victim changed his will to disinherit his children and leave more than $1 million to four strangers. Helping Hank Zahn, her boss at the All Souls Legal Cooperative, in settling the estate of his old Vietnam buddy, accountant Perry Hilderly, a founder of the Berkeley Free Speech Movement, Sharon tracks down the four beneficiaries, all of whom have ties to a collective involved in a bombing attempt at a naval station in the late 1960s. When one, a sleazy lawyer, is murdered, and a sniper almost kills Hank and another Vietnam vet, Sharon must find the connection between the murders, despite strident resistance from the police investigator in charge of the cases. McCone is one of the most freshly conceived and complexly characterized of the female private eyes. Muller's fine eye for detail and sense of place bring San Francisco and the California subculture vividly to life while Sharon unravels the skeins of a complex case to arrive at unhappy truths.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

YA-- Starring in her tenth mystery is Sharon McCone, a reflective young detective. While trying to locate four heirs of the estate of an ex-hippie from the turbulent Berkeley days, Sharon becomes embroiled in murder and suicide that seem to emanate from the Vietnam era. Maintaining her dignified demeanor doesn't preclude her running down and capturing a sniper, rowing to an island to save two children, or confronting a news anchor whom she later has to rescue from the San Francisco Bay. Full of adventure, humanity, and two engaging kittens, this thoughtful mystery should attract older YAs.
- Pam Spencer, Jefferson Sci-Tech, Alexandria, VA
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: G K Hall & Co; Large Prnt edition (August 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0816151342
• ISBN-13: 978-0816151349
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 6.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,023,295 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

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Flashback to the 1960s..., June 24, 2008

By 

Cynthia K. Robertson (beverly, new jersey USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Trophies and Dead Things (Mass Market Paperback)

Marcia Muller's Trophies and Dead Things is another strong effort in her Sharon McCone series. It was interesting to read how the Viet Nam Era is still affecting some people today.

Lawyer Hank Zahn, a friend and colleague of San Francisco private investigator, Sharon McCone, asks her a favor. A client of his, Perry Hilderly, was killed by a sniper. As Hilderly's lawyer, Zahn must take care of his estate and clean out his apartment. Zahn is surprised to find that Hilderly has recently written a new will, eliminating his two sons and leaving $1 million to be split between four unknown persons. Zahn (and the estate) hire McCone to find these four heirs.

In the process of finding the four heirs, McCone encounters stonewalling, denial and mystery. It is obvious that there is something major being hidden. It turns out that the common denominator is a militant political anti-war group from the 1960s and McCone goes about trying to solve this 30 year old mystery. It is also obvious that the events of the past have scarred everyone involved.

The 1960s were a turbulent time and Muller does a fine job of weaving fact with fiction. Muller finds an old pair of love beads and observes that the beads are "symbols of an era that was perhaps never as joyful or innocent as some of us remember it." Also, she reminisces about the legacy of the anti-war movement, "A war had been stopped, the will of the people had prevailed, society had been altered in profound ways. But there was a darker side to the legacy, and the personal cost had been high on both sides."

Trophies and Dead Things shows that Marcia Muller is not just a good mystery writer, but a good writer, period.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Memories of the 60's, August 3, 2002

By 

Karen Potts (Lake Jackson, Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Trophies and Dead Things (Mass Market Paperback)

Sharon McCone and her boss Hank are confused at the changes that one of their clients made in his will before he was killed by a sniper. Instead of leaving money to his wife and children, he has bequeathed his money to four people who seem, on the surface, to be unconnected. As Sharon begins to investigate, she discovers that the new heirs are connected by the protest movement against the Viet Nam War in the 60's. She peals away the secrets which these four are hiding, layer by layer. She discovers that interwoven relationships, long-simmering hatred, and desire for revenge which began 40 years ago is now leading to unfortunate incidents in the present time. As always, Marcia Muller weaves an interesting mystery against the background of San Francisco with which she is intimately acquainted and which she describes to her readers in wonderful detail.

3.0 out of 5 stars Didn't really read like a mystery., August 25, 2003

By 

Robert P. Beveridge "xterminal" (Lakewood, OH) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Trophies and Dead Things (Mass Market Paperback)

Marcia Muller, Trophies and Dead Things (Mysterious Press, 1990)

Sharon McCone (in her tenth appearance) has what seems like a routine probate; a well-known Northern California activist and Vietnam War protestor (and acquaintance of her boss), Perry Hilderley, has died. While going through his things, McCone finds a superseded copy of his will, disinheriting his (divorced) wife and their sons, and leaving all of his assets to be divided equally among four people who seemingly have no connection at all to Hilderley. Who are they, and what connection did they have to him?

Muller is often referred to as the founding mother of the hardboiled female detective. All well and good, except there's not much hardboiled here. (My definition: a hardboiled detective is in true physical danger at any point during the story. Otherwise, it's a cozy.) Granted, everyone around McCone is in danger at least once, and some of them wind up dead, but she takes an almost Miss Marple attitude towards this at times; let's get them out of danger, give them a cup of tea, and get back to solving this mystery.

Not that a well-written cozy isn't a lot of fun, and this is a well-written cozy. It does get a bit slow now and again, but like the mysteries of Robert Parker, the McCone novels are that wonderful type of series where the background soap-opera-style info merges so seamlessly with what's going on that you can hop in at any point in the series and be caught up on what's gone on before in a few pages, tops. And it doesn't get in the way of the present story, which is the all-important rule in writing series novels.

If the book does have a failing, and this is something that the individual reader will have to decide, it's in the mystery itself. There really isn't much of a mystery, and Muller lays that on the table from the get-go. The main question here is about what the four beneficiaries of Hilderley's will have in common, and there are enough hints in the opening pages to give you an idea of what will be in the closing ones. But getting there is half the fun, and Muller gives us a wonderful cast of characters to ride with. In other words, with not much mystery and not much danger, Trophies and Dead Things has more of a feel of Jane Smiley than Agatha Christie to it; I had no problems at all with that. Others may disagree. But whatever it is, it's fun. ***