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Rating: 
Summary: as always she remains the best mystery writer.
Review: another great book by Margaret Truman. The beginning was a bang and the ending a climax.
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Summary: Typical Truman, but eerily prescient
Review: If you like Margaret Truman's other "Murder ... " books, you'll like this one. If you don't, you won't.The relatively predictable characters and writing are familiar here. The only twist is that this book is about terrorists shooting passenger planes out of the sky, which gives the reader an odd feeling after 9/11. Truman's books are great if you're looking for something to take to the beach or read on a weekend. They're easily read and the plots are interesting enough to make them page-turners. If you're looking for serious fiction, you'll be disappointed. But my recommendation is to enjoy Truman's books for what they are -- fun novels for when you're in the mood for a quick read.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting forewarning
Review: In the aftermath of the September 11th tragedy, it is eerie that the same number of planes suffers similar disasters. This book is a little below par of her other books. The absence (in a crime-solving capacity) of Mac and Annabel Smith left a void in the story. The other characters were predictable and not well developed. In all, it was a good story that needed more work on the characters.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting forewarning
Review: In the aftermath of the September 11th tragedy, it is eerie that the same number of planes suffers similar disasters. This book is a little below par of her other books. The absence (in a crime-solving capacity) of Mac and Annabel Smith left a void in the story. The other characters were predictable and not well developed. In all, it was a good story that needed more work on the characters.
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Summary: A Broader Scope for Truman
Review: In this latest of Margaret Truman's homicidal tour of Washington landmarks and regions, the author expands her scope beyond the single homicide in DC to mass murder by terrorists. There is a Murder in Foggy Bottom to start the book, but this murder seems almost to be incidental to the story, which quickly moves to the cabin on a commuter airline which crashes soon after takeoff from Westchester County, NY. But then we learn that at almost the same time there have been commuter airline crashes in Idaho and California. Three crashes in one day is too much for coincidence, and then evidence of SAM missiles is found in the wreckage. There is the expected panic and concern as the FBI and looks into domestic terrorist organizations while the State Department and the CIA look overseas. The story is strong, the characters are believable, and the suspense is maintained. While Mac and Annabel Smith, the usual primary characters in Truman's series, are present in supporting roles, the principal characters are different. One interesting aspects of this book is the fact that there are multiple characters, almost an ensemble, who carry the story line to an interesting conclusion.
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Summary: Terrorists and Mass Murder of Airline Passengers
Review: Margaret Truman's mysteries are always fun to read. They are low-key, have a minimum of gory details, and have twists to keep things interesting. This time, we have the murder of a Canadian diplomat and destruction of three commuter planes in flight, killing passengers and crew. We watch the investigation of the crimes through the eyes of a Washington Post reporter, a CIA operative, and several FBI agents. Simultaneous destruction of three planes points to terrorists, but which terrorists? When the CIA man and the reporter find the answer, the story shifts into high gear during the last 100 pages for a breathtaking ending. All in all, it's an enjoyable book for relaxation.
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Summary: Chilling!
Review: The "bad guy" in this "Capital Crimes" outing is a rather generic white supremacist. We find out about him in a strained set of coincidences that will at best disappoint serious readers, if not infuriate them. Finally, the episodic nature of the book, while it gives the story a sense of immediacy, fails to develop any of the story lines with enough depth. Instead of one good story, we have three mediocre ones.
Rating:
Summary: Not Much Better Than Her Earlier Books
Review: The umpteenth in Truman's detective series set in Washington DC isn't much better than those that went before. On the one hand, Truman seems to be overcoming her irritating limitation in the earlier books to do little real research about Washington's institutions, but to spend too much time writing about restaurants and cocktail bars. On the other, she shows no signs of overcoming her other, more serious, limitations. Namely, her inability to develop credible male characters -a debilitating handicap in a detective novelist- and thin plotting. Truman clearly has done some homework about the State Department. "Murder in Foggy Bottom" begins with the death of a Canadian diplomat in Foggy Bottom, the Washington neighborhood where the State Department is headquartered. However, it could have used an editorial review by someone with more familiarity with the federal government. The State Department does not have "divisions" as Truman writes, but rather bureaus. Likewise, overseas embassies don't have divisions either, but sections. Nobody except dime-store novelists call CIA "the Company", there are no Trade Representatives at embassies, but Commercial Officers who are employees not of the State Department, but the Commerce Department. On and on. Truman just doesn't get the details of the federal bureaucracy right. The denouement, where contradictions between information provided by an FBI agent and by a Russian criminal, fails miserably. No president would stake his administration on whether an FBI agent provides better information than any other source. No, a real president would respond with caution, not hot-headed vanity to start another Waco. Truman is weak at "guy stuff". She just doesn't draw credible male characters. This was less of a problem in the earlier books where the lead characters were women, but now the male leads are just cardboard cutouts. Truman Capote or Tom Clancy would know Amstel Light isn't a light beer, but a light-colored beer. This sort of failure of detail causes periodic clunks in the narrative as the men do and say things that no man would ever do. Similarly, plot construction is thin and based on unbelievable coincidences and lucky breaks. Max gets the info he wants in a quick couple of days in Russia. How? Some guy hands it to him written out on a sheet of paper. Jessica takes some bird-watching photos in upstate New York and just happens to film her ex-husband in a hate-group. Sure. Max carries his handgun onto the Secretary of State's plane and into the State Department building. Truman explains this by having Max recall that while traveling with the Secretary, one doesn't get searched. Did she forget that a few pages earlier, Max walked out of the building alone, sat on a bench and reentered the State Department. Impossible to do with a handgun. If you've liked others in the Truman series, you'll probably like this one. If you've read a few and hoped she'd improve with experience, you'll be disappointed to find that she has improved, but not very much.
Rating: 
Summary: Well Below Her Standards
Review: This book is so poorly written and organized, I question if Margaret Truman even authored it. I have read all of the books in the Capital Crimes series and have come to expect much more. One of the more troubling aspects of this disappointing offering is the way Mac and Annabelle are randomly inserted into the plot. There isn't even an attempt to relate their appearances to the story. I have to believe Ms. Truman owed the publisher a book and allowed this one to be written by an overmatched editor. For anyone new to the series, give them another shot. They are all superior to Murder in Foggy Bottom.
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