You Have the Right to Remain Silent: A Mystery With Marian Larch [Hardcover]

Barbara Paul (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1992

Assigned to a precinct on Manhattan's Lower East Side and stuck with an incompetent partner, New York Police Sergeant Marian Larch must rely on old friends when a savage stabbing and gangland-style slayings occur on her beat.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Written in a terse, clipped style, this action-packed NYPD procedural follows Sgt. Marian Larch ( The Renewable Virgin ) as she heads up an investigation and tries to salvage her faltering love life. One day, while Larch is on duty in Manhattan's Lower East Side, four top-level employees of a laser technology firm--all with some level of government security clearance--are found murdered, handcuffed together and shot through the eye. Everyone agrees that their deaths are meant as a warning, but to whom or about what neither the company's president nor anyone else can fathom. Hindered by a partner who resents her and an overly ambitious captain, Larch is coerced into working with two FBI agents brought in because of the victims' classified government connections. Readers should sympathize with Larch, who is besieged on both personal and professional levels, but Paul's minimalist style and aloof point of view fail to grip the emotions. The fast pace, however, makes this an exciting read.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

The author's Sergeant Marian Larch returns with a solid, if sometimes sluggish, police procedural (You Have the Right to Remain Silent, Good King Sauerkraut, etc.). Larch, working temporarily and rather unhappily in the Ninth Precinct, is assigned by Captain Defalco to head the investigation into the murder of four men, found handcuffed together, each shot through the right eye, identified as a top team of executives from Universal Laser technology--a company engaged in a secret project for the government, which brings FBI agents Page and Holland into the case. The bizarre killings seem to be sending a warning, and Larch, with no other leads, is sure it's a warning to others in the organization. Hard questioning uncovers a second, supersecret project at Universal unconnected to Washington, and company owner Edgar Quinn becomes Larch's chief suspect. A plethora of computer-speak feeds into the solution, along with the Sergeant's emotional roller-coasting and the involvement of her actress friend Kelly Ingram in a final setup that ends the case in a surge of melodrama. An intriguing if not totally convincing plot, an intrepid but vulnerable heroine, and a no- nonsense style--all make for flawed but agreeable entertainment. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 249 pages
• Publisher: Scribner; First Edition edition (March 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684193809
• ISBN-13: 978-0684193809
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,209,606 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars odd characters give the book a decent grade, June 8, 2006

By 

DWD "DWD's Reviews" (Indianapolis, IN) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: You Have The Right To Remain Silent: A Sergeant Marian Larch Mystery (Paperback)

'You Have the Right To Remain Silent' is a quadruple ritualistic murder mystery featuring NYPD Detective Sergeant Marian Larch. She's fed up with all of the politics in police work and on the verge of quitting throughout the book. The characters are original and show some depth. The mystery itself is unique, including a motive that I still think is a little off, but...most murderers are a little off as well. I give this book a "B-"