Listen & Be Heard Weekly Archives

Done for a Dime

Murder mysteries, and police dramas may feel like a dime a dozen, but that just makes it that much more satisfying to find one that stands out from the ordinary. “[tag]Done for a Dime[/tag]” by [tag]David Corbett[/tag] doesn’t skim the surface of what are, in reality very complex issues. Stereotypes are challenged. Characters, and events don’t break down nicely into good and evil; the line is blurred. The downside, for those readers like me who enjoy a happy ending, is that this level of complexity, as in real life, doesn’t usually have any true winners. Crime and tragedy leave lasting effects on those they touch, and that’s another area that the author doesn’t shy away from addressing.

The novel wastes no time getting right into the action, opening with the brutal murder of a local musician of some note. We follow Detectives Murchison, and Stluka as they begin the investigation, finding more questions than answers as they interview witnesses, and search crime scenes. While the community at large may have respected him, it turns out that on a more personal level the victim had a knack of ticking people off, and the list of suspects only grows longer. Not only does the mystery of finding a murderer keep the pages turning, but we’re also brought deeply into the lives of a handful of some beautifully written characters. Even the minor players are so well crafted as to feel like you know them. The grieving family, local government, and police procedurals area all put under the microscope, reveling dysfunction on many levels, and the people who are doing the best they can to make things work. Confusion and corruption, however, takes its toll on all involved.

The setting is a fictitious town called Rio Mirada, yet anyone who enjoys local settings would love this book. Located where the Napa River empties into San Pablo Bay, the old Victorian houses, and a closed shipyard, all make the scenery recognizable. Yet even without these familiar details, the author creates a world that draws the reader in, and keeps them there.

David Corbett is actually a local author, currently living here in Vallejo. “Done for a Dime is his second novel, and his third, “Blood of Paradise” is due for release this spring. Despite his success, he stays involved in the local literary community, hosting the High Crimes Mystery Book Group at Bookshop Benicia on the first Thursday of each month. For more information, visit the shops website at http://www.bookshopbenicia.com. Published by Ballantine Books, “Done for a Dime” is available from most booksellers, or there are links available from the author’s website: http://www.davidcorbett.com.

Look Into the Eyes of Evil

Another crime novel, “[tag]Look Into the Eyes of Evil[/tag]: an FBI Badge of Honor Mystery” by [tag]P.K. Parker[/tag], would be better described as a suspense than mystery. The story follows two FBI detectives, Chris Delone and Marc Cullen, hunting down a serial killer. The murderer is reveled to the reader in chapter one as the story opens, and is therefore no great mystery, except for the question of why he kills, which is reveled slowly as the story unfolds. The entertainment comes less from the unknown than from watching the twists and wrong turns as the hunt progresses. While this novel contains all the usual tension, and a nicely thickening plot as the stakes increase, and even that bit of romance, it doesn’t grab the reader the way a suspenseful story needs to. There are a lot of little things that keeps the reader at arms legenth. The character’s emotional lives are touched on often, but I never felt like I knew anything about them outside of the investigation of this case. Distinct personality and voice for the main players takes a good while into the novel to emerge. Even then the real essence didn’t have much time to engage before the action and plot took over again. It read more like a script for an action movie – with scenes laid out, fights described, but things like setting, and character left too much to the imagination of the reader without enough guidance. I was left feeling very much on the outside as I read, instead of being pulled in. There are a handful of beautifully written scenes that were gripping, and compelling; a few sent shivers under my skin. The potential is there, but it didn’t last enough to keep me as engaged as I wanted to be. Continued editing errors, and inconsistencies in formatting, while not related to the story were, never the less, distracting as well, and served only to pull me away from the narrative that much more.

“Look Into the Eyes of Evil” is Parkers first novel, published by Authorhouse, and available from amazon.com.

[tags]book reviews[/tags]

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