Book Review: Death in Cold Type

Reviewed By: Catherine Thompson - RAM

Death in Cold Type     Amazon US TPB Amazon Canada TPB
C. C. Benison
Class/Genre:   Mystery
Signature Editions; $18.95 trade paperback; 319 pages

When Stevie Lord discovers Michael Rossiter’s corpse, the first person she calls (after the police, of course) is Leo Fabian. Leo’s a nice guy, a good man to have in your corner… and a reporter for the Winnipeg Citizen. He can’t understand why anyone would want to murder Rossiter; granted, Michael was a wealthy young man, but he used his wealth to further causes he believed in. The investigation draws in other members of the Citizen’s staff: Merritt Parrish, Michael’s rehab-dropout sister; Guy Clark, editor of the lifestyles section and one-time lover of Merritt; and troubled feature writer Liz Elliot. The deeper Leo digs, the more disturbing information he turns up, until he uncovers the clues that lead him to a killer.

C. C. Benison is probably best known for the “Her Majesty Investigates” series starring Royal housemaid Jane Bee. With Death in Cold Type, Benison goes back to his roots—literally. C. C. Benison is the pseudonym for one-time Winnipeg Free Press reporter and current associate editor of The Beaver Doug Whiteway. He knows the big-city newsroom as intimately as an ex-lover. The setting leaps out at the reader, drawing her into a world of deadlines and filler, of boring bourgeoisie events and long, coffee-fuelled nights.

The plot races to the climax, but not so quickly that the reader misses the clues that Benison quietly lays in her path. Benison knows the value of the underrated, the overlooked, in the mystery novel. This knowledge is one of the elements that made the Jane Bee series so popular; that, and the cutting wit tossed out so casually that you might miss the joke if you’re not paying attention.

Catherine Thompson - RAM

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Catherine Thompson - RAM