I just finished a book in 2 days!
It was easy to do because Sunday was a total day of rest for me.....I spent the afternoon under the maple tree in the backyard, on a chaise, with a glass of iced tea and fresh orange slices just reading!
And the author's books tend to be fast-paced and easy reads. I only read his Alex Cross Mystery series and this series. I have read a couple of his other books but I wasn't thrilled with them.
This book is the 12th book in the Women's Murder Club series.
I like the series because I really enjoy the characters, especially Claire, the medical examiner and Lyndsay, the police officer.
Story Summary
The setting, of course, is San Francisco which is where the Murder Club series takes place.
This time the book features a little bit on all 4 women: Lyndsay, Claire, Cindy (a tenacious news reporter), and Yuki (an Assistant District Attorney).
The story begins with Lyndsay in labor for her first child!! (she is over 40) There is a raging storm outside and her husband Joe (a former Homeland Security officer) is not at home. Lyndsay's baby girl, Julie, is born at home with the help of firefighters who answered her 911 call. All is well and when Joe gets home they all begin to bond as a family.
While Lyndsay is enjoying her maternity leave, the city of San Francisco begins to have multiple, bizarre murders. The even more bizarre thing is that an English professor has been having strange dreams that predict the murders before they even take place! They match his dream in almost every detail.
Meanwhile, the girlfriend of a major football star is found dead in her car. The prime suspect is the San Francisco 49-er......it does seem like a simple open and shut case when all of a sudden, Claire (the medical examiner) discovers that the body has disappeared from the morgue!! The chief of police then calls in Lyndsay to come help solve this case.......which cuts off her maternity leave after just one week at home with her newborn baby girl. Joe was let go from his Homeland Security job due to downsizing, so he agrees to be the stay-at-home-daddy.
While this football star saga is going on, and while these dead women are turning up in the city with the professor dreaming about them ahead of time, Yuki, the ADA, is at court to try to convict a sleazy lawyer of murdering his wife and little girl who have been missing for over a year. The wife's remains were found but the little girl, Lily, has never been found. All the evidence points to the scum-bag lawyer who has a very shady past and is extremely unethical. Will Yuki win this case?? Is this case related to any of the other murders that have happened recently?
And....just when Lyndsay is wrapped up in these "Dream Deaths", a criminal from her past rears up via the lead FBI agent for her area. This is a criminal that Lyndsay helped to put behind bars several years ago, and who is now agreeing to tell the police where he hid the bodies of his girl victims. He murdered several young women some years back and not all of the victims have been found. Little do we (as readers) know, but he has a plan to break free from prison. And a rogue cop is going to help him! WHO is the rogue cop and will Lyndsay be able to solve this new case??
Meanwhile.......
Cindy gets involved with trying to solve the case revolving around the football player and his dead girlfriend, Faye Farmer. Of course with no body, the clues are not available and they can't hold the suspect for something they can't prove! Cindy is a real work-a-holic and this is taking a toll on her fiance, Rich Conklin, who is Lyndsay's partner at work.
While all of this is going on, Lyndsay's baby develops a high fever that continues for days. Lyndsay starts to feel torn as a mother between her job and her family. She and Joe take the baby to the doctor where blood tests are done. The doctor breaks the news to them that the baby has leukemia!!
Joe wants another opinion and they decide to take Julie to a specialist after Joe does some research. The specialist runs several tests and discovers that her blood cells are the shape of what cells look like in leukemia AND in mononucleosis!! The good news is that it is NOT leukemia. It is mono that she apparently picked up from the home birth via firefighters. Lyndsay and Joe are much relieved and Lyndsay then goes on to solving the mystery behind the dream deaths. They discover that there was a rogue cop among them (I don't want to reveal who it is because it will ruin the story for you, if you decide to read it).
The ending of the book leaves us hanging though, because something happens with the prime suspect of the dream deaths......
MY THOUGHTS
Another brilliant piece of contemporary fiction by this author. I really do enjoy this series. I like it because there aren't many (if any!) steamy s*x scenes or super-graphic violence.
I like how he tied in some things from the previous book regarding Cindy and her engagement to Lyndsay's partner, Rich Conklin. There was a little bit of a surprise in this book regarding Rich and Cindy although I wasn't totally surprised.....I was sort of expecting what the author was going to do. I am actually kind of glad it is going this particular way and look forward to seeing how it plays out in his next book. (again, I don't want to be specific, in case you read the novel).
I really like how the characters' friendships stay intact through trials and triumphs and life as career women. They are very believable characters.
The book has several sub-plots going on but due to the author's style of writing, you don't get the feeling of being bogged down with too many characters. He has this great way of weaving everything together.
I highly recommend this series of books. If you have never read any of the Women's Murder Club books, you should begin right with number 1 (First to Die). I guarantee that if you like good mysteries, you will be hooked!
and I imagine that the ending of this book will be picked up in the next one....
In my opinion, this book is appropriate for ages 17 and older.
On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, I rate this a 10.
and...it's raining here today...supposed to rain all day....we kind of need it as it's been over a week and the lawn was getting brown. It's a good day to return this book to the library and go find some new ones.......meanwhile, this morning I am finishing up a beautiful non-fiction one based on the Adirondack photography of one of my family's favorite photographers.
Enjoy your day!!
2 comments:
You are really rolling through the books this summer! The idea of a whole Sunday afternoon with nothing to do but read sounds heavenly.
I know, Susanne!! And the neat thing is that almost every book I have picked up has been GOOD! I just took 4 more outta the library. I returned one from last week because when I started it it looked good and I had read the authors first 3 books in the series. Well by page 2 I discovered it was about incest so I said no way......it involved an Amish family and the main character is one I've liked in the past but.....I am no longer going to read the books. Ick.
Post a Comment