Customer Reviews

Yesterday's Fatal

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This is the third mystery I've read by Jan Brogan, and it may be her best yet. The main character, Hallie, has gained some perspective as she's battled her addictions and pursued her journalism career, but she still trips over herself in ways that make the story compellling. The book is fast-paced and keeps you hooked on the plot and the lives of the characters. You can't help but root for Hallie even though you sometimes want to knock some sense into her as she does whatever it takes to land a front-page story. Brogan gives you a real taste of the newspaper business; it helps explain Hallie's determination to follow every lead, no matter where it might take her. Brogan's storylines and sharp ear for dialogue make her books much better than the typical formulaic mystery.

Hallie Ahern, the troubled Rhode Island reporter I first met in A Confidential Source by Jan Brogan, makes a return appearance in Yesterday's Fatal. Brogan's first novel is Final Copy.

Hallie Ahern is a talented investigative reporter who struggles with her addictions. Each day is living 'one day at a time.' When Ahern happens upon a fatal car accident, it is hardly the story that will make her career, much less the front page of the newspaper. Fatals rarely have that much importance.

But this particular fatal accident catches Ahern's attention. It's an itch she can't scratch. Not only was the victim the mother of three children, but the car apparently hit a tree, not once, but twice. And a witness, who originally stated the car aimed for the tree, changed her story after a visit by the victim's husband and his attorney.

Ahern finds herself caught up in a story with no possibility of a good outcome. As she carefully follows the clues, she learns that immigrants are tied to an insurance scam, a really bad man seems to be the ring leader, no one wants to go 'on the record' and other people are not whom she thinks they are.

It's not bad enough that Ahern might lose her life following the story of a lifetime, but her gambling addiction rears its ugly head, her love life tanks and she may lose her job with the sale of the newspaper she works for. It's enough to make one drink--if they didn't have lives to save and a story to see on the front page.

Hallie Ahern is a deliciously flawed heroine. Her life is edgy, with enough compulsions to make her interesting, but not enough to make her an 'over-the-top' character. Brogan's knowledge of the newspaper business gives her novels a 'real life' flavor, her plots are fascinating and her characters colorful and complex.

Armchair Interviews says: If you like your mysteries served up with flair and grit, and you enjoy a walk on the darker side of humanity, read Jan Brogan's novels. They're page-turners.

In Providence, Rhode Island, Providence Morning Chronicle reporter Hallie Ahern observes an odd tragic car accident in which she tries to rescue the already dead driver. Dominican bookkeeper Lizette Gorda, a mother of three working for attorney Dane Piedmont, apparently hit a tree twice; at least that is what the elderly witness told her. Lizette's husband insists another driver was involved with the mess but left before the police arrived.

Hallie begins to make inquires that lead to mobster Tito Manaforte, who attended the funeral and personal-injury lawyer Joe D'Anzana. As she digs deeper she begins to believe that Lizette's accident is tied to an insurance scam to file false claims with insurance companies, Medicare and Medicaid. However, her efforts alienate her boyfriend, prosecutor Matt Cavanaugh who warns her he will subpoena her if he has to while Dane makes no apology that he wants her; of course so does the bad guys.

Hallie is a fabulous investigative reporter whose inquires make for a superb mystery; however her romances are a different story as they are used to show her flaws, but instead feel as if they intrude on the prime theme, her investigation. Still she makes the story line fun to follow as she cleverly follows the leads while the criminals follow her. Readers will enjoy the escapades of Jan Brogan's intrepid journalist when she is on the case more so than with the men in and out of her life.

Harriet Klausner

Actually, I lived in Taunton, Mass., for several years, but watched the local news on Providence TV stations. Jan Brogan certainly captures the feeling of the area in her Hallie Ahern books.This one centers on the staged accident racket in which insurance companies are the targetted victims.And here we have Hallie Ahern once again with the conflicts she carries between doing her job as an investigative journalist and being a sensitive human being. Beyond that, she has her addictions to battle and emotional instability which affects her love life.All this results in one of the most fascinating series of crime novels you'll find.

Yesterday's Fatal is the kind of mystery I admire. One that keeps you guessing till the very end. Plus Hallie is a heroine you can root for, her imperfections are believable and her reporter's instincts finely honed. I found myself unable to put this book down.

Yesterdays Fatal is one of those mysteries that keeps you guessing and holding your breath to the final pages. Set in Providence, Rhode Island, it features fearless newspaper reporter, Hallie Ahern and her endless quest for action - whether in the form of gambling with money, her love life, or her job. Yesterdays Fatal takes Hallie from the scene of a suspicious fatal car wreck into a major auto insurance fraud ring. Soon, she is in over her head and fighting for far more than a featured front-page story. Fasten your seatbelts. Yesterdays Fatal is a heartpounding read!

I love the first line of Yesterday's Fatal:

"It's not that fatals are beneath me."

A "fatal" is a fatal accident and, as Jan Brogan's protagonist Hallie Ahern goes on to explain, not the normal beat of an investigative newspaper reporter. Since she's the one who discovers the accident, though, Hallie ends up covering the crash and--to her delight and that of Brogan's readers'--the bigger story of insurance scam and mob connections that Hallie digs up.

Brogan's writing is tight and precise, with just the right balance of action and personal moments. Hallie's addictive personality and needs create an extra set of problems that knot up nicely with the regular obstacles she faces as a reporter. Set in Rhode Island, the book is filled with great, quirky details and connections that twisted and turned the plot and kept me happily reading.

Yesterday's Fatal is the second in Jan Brogan's series; I'll be backtracking soon to read the first--A Confidential Source.