It is early August as The Breakers: A Sharon McCone Mystery
by Marcia Muller begins. Michelle Curley or “Chelle” to her friends was
living and slowly rehabbing an old building known as The Breakers. Her parents,
Trish and Jim Curley, who are out of the country and very worried, can’t get
ahold of her. They got in touch with Sharon McCone and have asked her to check
on their daughter. McCone has known her as well as her parents for a number of
years and knows that the young lady is smart, level headed, and would not just
disappear on her own.
The building dates back to the Prohibition Era and
served a lot of functions over the years. These days it is a massive derelict and
will require a massive amount of work to restore. Among other strange things
inside the building, near where Chelle was sleeping is an area devoted to
serial killers and their crimes. A collage of sorts that seems to celebrate the
work of numerous serial killers in California. While all are famous in their
own macabre way, some are far more high profile than others. What that display
has to do with Chelle’s disappearance, if anything at all is unclear. McCone
already was disturbed by the building and the gruesome display makes it all much
worse. As she investigates, things become murkier and far more dangerous to all
involved in the case.
The latest in a long series, The Breakers: A Sharon McCone Mystery is
an average book at best. Author Marcia Muller pushes the thing along with a few
clues here and there and with her team doing most of the work. This is not a novel
of import to the series and easily could have been massively shortened into a
more compelling novella. Much of the book just sort of drifts along as the
author fulfills a contractual obligation to create a new book in the series.
While it is always best to read a series in order, in this case with
its frequent detailed allusions to past reads, The Breakers: A Sharon McCone
Mystery could easily be read by those new to the
series. Much of the context provided by the references are to events long ago
and is not earth shattering in the consideration of the overall series. They are
general information references as opposed to key points where the series
turned.
In short, The Breakers: A Sharon McCone Mystery is
an average read that scratches the McCone itch for some readers very familiar
with the series.
The Breakers: A Sharon McCone Mystery
Marcia Muller
Thorndike
Press
September
2018
ISBN#
978-1-4328-5398-3
Large
Print Hardback (also available in audio, eBook, and regular print hardback formats)
341
Pages
$33.85
Material
supplied by the good folks of the Dallas Public Library System.
Kevin
R. Tipple ©2018
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