Book Review: The Whole Truth

Reviewed By: Carl Brookins - RAM

The Whole Truth     Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Nancy Pickard
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Woman Main Character   Psychological Suspense
Series: Marie Lightfoot # 1
Pocket; 2000; $22.95; 264 pp

Nancy Pickard has won an Anthony, the McCavity award and the Agatha, twice. She has written a dozen successful mysteries, particularly those featuring Jenny Cain, the feisty director of an obscure foundation in a very small town on the New England coast. She could doubtless continue in that vein for another dozen novels.

Yet here she is, challenging herself as a writer, and we her many fans, in a capital departure. THE WHOLE TRUTH is a novel about a new protagonist, Marie Lightfoot. Lightfoot is a writer, a writer of true crime books, not stories, not grist for the tabloids mind you, but carefully researched, thoughtful examinations of real crimes and real criminals.

And so this novel is the story of Marie Lightfoot’s examination and increasing involvement in the case of a terrible murder by a killer who is probably one of the least likable characters since Hannibal Lector. But this story is two books in one. Not only do we get to ride along with author Lightfoot as she pursues the real truth behind the identity of the killer, Raymond Raintree, but we are also present with Nancy Pickard as she creates an admirable protagonist with a full life, friends and questions of her own.

I recommend this novel. It’s a fine work and I have no doubt Pickard will refine her talent along this new path. I eagerly await the next episode in Marie Lightfoot’s career

Carl Brookins - RAM

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