The Old Detective's Daughter :

Rating:
Summary: Well written, quick read
Review: The characters and places are very vivid in this book. The story strikes a balance between standard detective story and the nature of family relationships. A.V. Spencer's description of the title character's encounter with the health care industry is particularly chilling.

Rating:
Summary: A Damn Good Read
Review: The mystery novel has long been a genre that authors have used to deliver a compelling story while also including a serious theme. This book interested me from the start because it used the genre so well, which is why I agreed to write the foreword. The story is certainly compelling--centered around an aging man's search for his long-estranged daughter. This is one of those stories where the detective herself (yes, a woman detective, as the title implies) is emotionally drawn into the case as discovering the whereabouts of her client's daughter also uncovers the detective's grievances with her own father. A.V. Spencer gracefully weaves these parallel stories together, in a tale that will take every baby boomer through the conflicts and victories that characterized their own generation. Do the fathers and daughters heal their old wounds and get back together? It would be unfair to both reader and author if I revealed that, but I can say there are intriguing and touching moments along the way.

Rating:
Summary: The Old Dective's Daughter
Review: The old Dective's Daughter is a delight to read! It is a well done mystery that captures the attention and keeps you reading. But it is more than a mystery, it is a heart filled story beautifully weaves the past and present together, touching upon issues relevent to many of our lives.

Rating:
Summary: You Will Not Put This One Down...
Review: To steal a line from Studs Terkel, I couldn't put the damned thing down. The Old Detective's Daughter is that kind of book. Spencer has written a good work of fiction that held me in its grasp until the last page. While the book is only 99 pages, it is a multi-textured story about forgiveness and chance. Set in Chicago and Youngstown, Ohio, the main character T.J. Montegomery, a woman detective, is hired to help an older man at the end of his life find his estranged daughter. In the process of working on the case for the old man, her own father is dying of cancer. While she has to accept that her father is about to die, she can't quite make peace with the bad state of medical care he receives. The story winds up being less of a mystery and more about the relationship between father and daughter. The parallel plots of father and daughter draw you in as they move to wrap themselves up at the end. I like particularly liked TJ's close friend Karen. Spencer creates an intriquing character in Karen who helps TJ see her plight from a different perspective. This is a good little story that has me looking for more from this writer.