Reviewed By: Jon Jordan - Crime Spree Magazine - RAM
Murder at Midnight
Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
Marshall Cook
Class/Genre: Mystery Woman Main Character
Series: Monona Quinn # 2
Bleak House Books, 2005
Monona (Mo) Quinn is a transplanted Chicagoan living in a small town outside of Madison. When she first moved to this quiet little town she took a job as editor of a weekly paper called Mitchell Doings, and it lead her into a murder investigation which was chronicled in MURDER OVER EASY. Now for the second time in only three months there is another murder in Mitchell, this time its Father OBannon who is dead.
Cook does a wonderful job with this book. He has captured the feel of the small town brilliantly and manages to show all the charm of Mitchell by introducing an outsider, a detective named Lashandra Cooper. We learn more about the town as she does, from Mo explaining things to her during the investigation. And Mo is indeed involved in this case. As a parishioner and editor for the paper she has obvious reasons for being involved. Cook manages to avoid the clichés of most amateur detectives by having Mo working as a sort of liaison with Detective Cooper.
Mitchell feels real enough that I was tempted to look at a map to see where it was so that I might visit. This book is satisfying in the same way a home cooked meal is, created with care and completely filling.
Jon Jordan - Crime Spree Magazine - RAM
Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Jon Jordan - Crime Spree Magazine - RAM
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