Book Review: File M for Murder

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

File M for Murder     Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
India Edghill
Class/Genre:   Mystery
Hardshell Word Factory, Aug 1999

Single mother Cornelia Upshaw enjoys working as a temporary secretary because the money is good, the benefits are excellent, and she avoids the in-house political bull. She currently works for finance giant Dayborne Ventures as a six-week replacement while the assistant secretary to Executive Vice President J. Abercrombie Davis is on vacation.

After a weekend of reading mystery novels and playing with her three-year old daughter, Cornelia arrives at her temporary office. She notices that Abercrombie closed his office door rather early for him. That entire morning the executive never leaves his office. When an employee needs to see Abercrombie for guidance, Cornelia tries to call him over the intercom, but no one answers her paging. Cornelia opens the office door to find her boss dead.

NYPD homicide detective Victor Kosciusko leads the investigation, which turns into a murder case as someone poisoned the victim. As Victor makes inquires, he and Cornelia are attracted to one another. However, an unknown culprit will kill anyone whose closes in on identifying who he/she is.

FILE M FOR MURDER is an entertaining amateur sleuth tale that sub-genre fans will fully enjoy. Though the killer seems obvious from the start, the enjoyable story line will hook readers due to the antics of the lead protagonist. Her first person narrative allows the audience to humorously see what makes her tick. The support cast augments the tale, especially from the perspective of how Cornelia observes their relationships. India Edghill has provided the opening gamut of what should be an enjoyable series.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner