When Marquitta “Skeet” Bannion left family and her
job as a Kansas City Homicide Detective for being the Chief of Police Chouteau
University, she thought she would be able to leave all the bad stuff behind and
make a fresh start. It hasn’t worked out that way as pulls back to Kansas City
keep making their presence felt. She was sure that, at least, she would be able
to leave violent death and murder behind. The fact that the editor-in-chief of
the campus newspaper, Andrew McAffe, is very much dead according to rookie Police
Officer Dave Parker proves her wrong. Who killed him by bashing his head in and
why he or she did it will be her focus of her investigation.
Figuring it out will be much easier said than done. The victim, who had recently been in a fight with his news editor, was certainly no saint. Not only was the victim accused of various thefts and at least one sexual assault, he had his fingers in a lot of areas. As Police Chief Bannion digs into the case no secret is safe and the list of suspects grows. So too does her frustration with those who are much more concerned about politics and alumnae fundraising than finding a murderer. A murderer that clearly isn’t about to stop.
Figuring it out will be much easier said than done. The victim, who had recently been in a fight with his news editor, was certainly no saint. Not only was the victim accused of various thefts and at least one sexual assault, he had his fingers in a lot of areas. As Police Chief Bannion digs into the case no secret is safe and the list of suspects grows. So too does her frustration with those who are much more concerned about politics and alumnae fundraising than finding a murderer. A murderer that clearly isn’t about to stop.
For some reason there is a blurb on this book comparing
this novel to the works of Nevada Barr and Sara Paretsky. One can only conclude
that comparison is made because the lead character in all cases is a female
fighting, among other things, male disrespect. While being compared to New York
Times bestselling authors is nice, that comparison does not address the actual
storyline, type of characters involved, settings, and other elements of the
book that have nothing in common with the aforementioned writers.
The novel does remind one of the excellent Sheriff
Rhodes series written by Bill Crider. Both feature small police departments led
by non-political bosses who are straightforward, make pains to point out to
suspects that all secrets eventually come out, and understand that behind the public
façade a far different person often exists. Rhodes and Bannion ask lots of
questions, expect dishonesty from those often trying to hide other things that
have no relation to the actual case, and both use stress reliving tactics while
thinking about the case. Sheriff Rhodes sits out on the back porch and plays
with his dogs while ruminating on the case. Police Chief Bannion puts music on,
picks up her knitting needles, and goes to work while ruminating on the case.
“Winner of the Malice Domestic First Traditional
Mystery Novel Competition” Every Last Secret is a strong debut
novel featuring an interesting main character as well as numerous interesting secondary
characters. The characters involved are multi dimension and complicated, like
people in real life, and it does not take long at all for these characters to become
very real in the reader’s mind. The action moves forward at a steady pace while
gradually the character’s back stories come into pay adding depth and nuance to
the work. Just under 300 pages the read is over way too soon leaving the reader
wanting more.
Every
Last Secret
Linda
Rodriquez
Thomas
Dunne Books (Minotaur Books)
April
2012
ISBN: 978-1-250-00545-8
Hardback
(also available as e-book, audio, and paperback)
289
Pages
$24.99
Material supplied by the good folks of the Plano,
Texas Library System.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2012
4 comments:
I agree with you Kevin. I don't know why the Linda's work was compared to the others. Because they are female? It didn't wash for me either. But, I did like the book. It was well plotted and written, deserving of the Domestic Malice win. Thanks for reviewing books, which I can then look up.
I think it had to be the fact that they are female and dealing with male disrespect among other issues. It just didn't work at all.
I thought it was very good. It certainly was not the case after reading it (which has happened a few times) where I sat back and wondered how in the heck did that win whatever award. EVERY LAST SECRET ranks up there with the best books I have read this year. I really liked it.
And thank you for reading and commenting. Your post is why I keep reviewing despite my problems and the general disdain reviews and reviewing seems to have these days.
Thanks Kevin for another great review. On your recommendation have added to my TBR list.
Thank you, Jake. Hope you like it.
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