Catch the Moon

Rating:
Summary: Who did it, the Widow, the Environmentalist or Someone Else?
Review: Alicia Maldonado, Deputy District Attorney in Salinas, California is Montery County's best prosecutor. She is tough, self-assured and got where she is by hard work, grit and determination. She tells it the way it is and she gets convictions. And now she may have landed the case that will make her career, the murder of gubernatorial candidate Daniel Gaines.

The evidence points to John David Stennis, otherwise known as the environmental activist, Treebeard. However, Alicia's instincts tell her something is rotten in Denmark. It seems life in the Gaines household had not been all that rosy. The victim's lovely widow doesn't seem to be shedding enough tears over her loss and there are too many facts that don't add up 

Suave and sophisticated news correspondent Milo Pappas attempts to seduce Alicia for information about the investigation, but she turns him down, even though she's initially attracted to him, she's not about to fall for his charms, just so he can get a scoop. Complicating matters, the Widow Gaines is Milo's ex-girlfriend and she tries to destroy both Alicia's and Milo's careers, so one might wonder if her alibi is really so airtight.

I found CATCH THE MOON to be a fast and fun filled read that I can highly recommend to anybody who likes to curl up with a good book and while away a rainy day, or any other kind of day for that matter. I liked the characters very much and I liked the way Ms. Dempsey drew me into the story and kept me there. All and all this book was a very pleasant experience for me.

Rating:
Summary: The Moon is as good as The Star
Review: Just like her debut novel, FALLING STAR, CATCH THE MOON is a real page turner. Ms. Dempsey's characters are so compelling, though not always in an attractive way, that you simply must read on to the climax. As is her style, all loose ends are magically and skillfully tied up in a rapid fire and feel good conclusion. Perhaps a bit trite, but it is exactly what I wanted to happen! Give this book to a friend and they will thank you. By-the-by, I figured out who dunnit by page 225. Will you?

Rating:
Summary: The Moon is as good as The Star
Review: Just like her debut novel, FALLING STAR, CATCH THE MOON is a real page turner. Ms. Dempsey's characters are so compelling, though not always in an attractive way, that you simply must read on to the climax. As is her style, all loose ends are magically and skillfully tied up in a rapid fire and feel good conclusion. Perhaps a bit trite, but it is exactly what I wanted to happen! Give this book to a friend and they will thank you. By-the-by, I figured out who dunnit by page 225. Will you?

Rating:
Summary: Strong characters and real emotion
Review: When a popular gubernatorial candidate is murdered, it's the juiciest case in Monterey County history, and it falls right into Alicia Maldonado's lap. The hardworking deputy district attorney sees it as the perfect vehicle to launch her into public office. Unfortunately, her slimy and incompetent boss, DA Kip Penrose, commandeers the case and the limelight. He needs the visibility to win votes for his upcoming reelection, and a conviction is a slam-dunk--the murderer practically left his calling card.

Alicia is relegated to a fact gatherer, someone who feeds the DA sound bites so he'll look good. She's resigned to her fate--until she begins to suspect that the case isn't so cut-and-dried after all, and the murderer might be the victim's own wife. Penrose, however, sweeps under the carpet any evidence he doesn't like. The wife's family is his biggest campaign supporter. And when Alicia won't shut up, Penrose sabotages her entire career in a way that promises she will never be elected to any public office.

Add to this injustice a charming network TV reporter trying to use Alicia for his own ends, and a host of over-ambitious characters who will manipulate any situation to further their aims, and Alicia is in heaps of trouble.

As in her first novel, FALLING STAR, Diana Dempsey creates realistic and memorable characters, complete with flaws, that you can really root for; then she puts them into trouble so terrible you can't figure out how they'll ever triumph. The author immerses the reader in a well-researched world of money and power, ambition and greed, and surprise plot twists. This is an author to watch.