Cold Blood

Rating:
Summary: powerful police procedural
Review: He was the one everyone picked on in school. He had no friends everyone in school picked on him. He had the nerve to ask one of the popular girls to a school dance. Her boyfriend and three of his jock pals beat him to a bloody pulp. He swore he would get even one day.

Paris Murphy, the girl he asked out, is now a St. Paul Homicide detective. She sees Justice Trip on television searching for a woman who has gone missing after walking out of a wedding reception. Justice is the one who found the missing woman?s pinkie as he joins in the search party but something about his demeanor doesn?t set right with Paris. He plays the hero giving out false information to a reporter making her wonder if he had anything to do with the killing. When the body is found in a park, Justice is also there. As Paris researches the crime, she comes upon some interesting facts that make her think that Justice is a serial killer. Now all she has to do is find some evidence to back up her supposition.

Told from the point of view of the heroine and the antagonist reader knows at all times what is going on in their heads and can predict what their next move will be. This is only Theresa Monsour?s second book but with her complex characterizations and tight and complex storylines, it is easy to see that she is going to be one of the new stars in the crime thriller galaxy. COLD BLOOD is a powerful tour-de force, a police procedural that takes the reader into the investigation from start to finish.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: powerful police procedural
Review: He was the one everyone picked on in school. He had no friends everyone in school picked on him. He had the nerve to ask one of the popular girls to a school dance. Her boyfriend and three of his jock pals beat him to a bloody pulp. He swore he would get even one day.

Paris Murphy, the girl he asked out, is now a St. Paul Homicide detective. She sees Justice Trip on television searching for a woman who has gone missing after walking out of a wedding reception. Justice is the one who found the missing woman's pinkie as he joins in the search party but something about his demeanor doesn't set right with Paris. He plays the hero giving out false information to a reporter making her wonder if he had anything to do with the killing. When the body is found in a park, Justice is also there. As Paris researches the crime, she comes upon some interesting facts that make her think that Justice is a serial killer. Now all she has to do is find some evidence to back up her supposition.

Told from the point of view of the heroine and the antagonist reader knows at all times what is going on in their heads and can predict what their next move will be. This is only Theresa Monsour's second book but with her complex characterizations and tight and complex storylines, it is easy to see that she is going to be one of the new stars in the crime thriller galaxy. COLD BLOOD is a powerful tour-de force, a police procedural that takes the reader into the investigation from start to finish.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Another winner! Highly recommend this series.
Review: I am very hard to please. I have recently switched genres and almost read thrillers/mysteries exclusively. It is hard to find these type of books written by a woman where the lead character is female. Theresa Monsour's second book, Cold Blood continues the story of police detective Paris Murphy. Paris has flaws, which I love. This book was well written, thrilling and creepy. I especially like the fact that Paris's non-work life is so detailed. Ms. Monsour really delves into Paris's private life with her ex-husband, boyfriend and other co-workers. It really works too. I highly recommend this book and her first one, Clean Cut. You will not be disappointed. Finally, a smart, witty, sexy female detective.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent, Creepy Crime Thriller
Review: I read a bunch of books over Memorial Day weekend,
including Monsour's second Paris Murphy novel. I'm
not sure why I never read the first, but I will have
to go back and correct that mistake. Wow! _Cold Blood_
was a great book.

A bridesmaid has disappeared while walking home from the
reception in Moose Lake, Minnesota. A few days later,
during a search of the area, Justice Trip, a traveling
salesman who has volunteered to help, stumbles across
a finger, which proves to be that of the missing woman.
He briefly becomes a minor celebrity when it is discovered
he's had similar luck before, finding the necklace of a
missing girl in a rural area of Wisconsin, just before the
girl herself was discovered, alive and well. This time,
things don't look as hopeful for the missing woman.

Paris Murphy, a homicide detective in St. Paul, sees the
news coverage and recognizes Trip as a high school classmate,
one who'd been picked on and mistreated in high school and
someone who'd once asked her to a homecoming dance. She still
feels bad that her old boyfriend and some of his friends had
beaten Trip up as a result. Since there's a St. Paul link to
the disappearance--the woman's estranged husband lives nearby--
Murphy becomes involved in the case and can't shake her suspicion
that Trip might know more about what happened than he's letting
on.

Monsour does a great job of capturing the Minnesota locations
and just a general feel for the people and the atmosphere of both
small town and big city Minnesota. Murphy is a great character,
the daughter of a Lebanese mother and an Irish father, and one of
a large group of children. She has her own personal problems--her
relationship with her separated husband doesn't seem to be improving,
no matter what she tries, and the man she's had an affair with recently
is pushing her too hard to make their relationship something more.
And she can't help but feel some sort of attraction to her boss in
homicide, a former undercover cop who is something of a legend in the
department.

Monsour also does a nice job with the villain in the book. We almost,
not quite, but almost, feel sorry for him. He's someone we can sympathize
with, though the reasons for his actions escape explanation, even at the
end. There are some gruesome passages in the book, so if you aren't up
to some blood and gore in your mysteries, you might want to skip this
one, but all in all, I was very pleasantly surprised. I'm going to check
out _Clean Cut_, the first novel in this series, right away.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent, Creepy Crime Thriller
Review: I read a bunch of books over Memorial Day weekend,
including Monsour's second Paris Murphy novel. I'm
not sure why I never read the first, but I will have
to go back and correct that mistake. Wow! _Cold Blood_
was a great book.

A bridesmaid has disappeared while walking home from the
reception in Moose Lake, Minnesota. A few days later,
during a search of the area, Justice Trip, a traveling
salesman who has volunteered to help, stumbles across
a finger, which proves to be that of the missing woman.
He briefly becomes a minor celebrity when it is discovered
he's had similar luck before, finding the necklace of a
missing girl in a rural area of Wisconsin, just before the
girl herself was discovered, alive and well. This time,
things don't look as hopeful for the missing woman.

Paris Murphy, a homicide detective in St. Paul, sees the
news coverage and recognizes Trip as a high school classmate,
one who'd been picked on and mistreated in high school and
someone who'd once asked her to a homecoming dance. She still
feels bad that her old boyfriend and some of his friends had
beaten Trip up as a result. Since there's a St. Paul link to
the disappearance--the woman's estranged husband lives nearby--
Murphy becomes involved in the case and can't shake her suspicion
that Trip might know more about what happened than he's letting
on.

Monsour does a great job of capturing the Minnesota locations
and just a general feel for the people and the atmosphere of both
small town and big city Minnesota. Murphy is a great character,
the daughter of a Lebanese mother and an Irish father, and one of
a large group of children. She has her own personal problems--her
relationship with her separated husband doesn't seem to be improving,
no matter what she tries, and the man she's had an affair with recently
is pushing her too hard to make their relationship something more.
And she can't help but feel some sort of attraction to her boss in
homicide, a former undercover cop who is something of a legend in the
department.

Monsour also does a nice job with the villain in the book. We almost,
not quite, but almost, feel sorry for him. He's someone we can sympathize
with, though the reasons for his actions escape explanation, even at the
end. There are some gruesome passages in the book, so if you aren't up
to some blood and gore in your mysteries, you might want to skip this
one, but all in all, I was very pleasantly surprised. I'm going to check
out _Clean Cut_, the first novel in this series, right away.