Ask the Cards a Question

Rating:
Summary: Ask the Cards a Question
Review: "Ask the Cards a Question" is the second of the Sharon McCone novels by Marcia Muller following the groundbreaking "Edwin of the Iron Shoes" which introduced McCone as the first hard-boiled female private investigator. Molly Antonio, a tenant in Sharon's building is found dead by her husband, Gus. She had been strangled. With things slow at the All Soul's Legal Cooperative where Sharon works, she is able to work on the case. She finds quite a few suspects along the way. The ending is sure to surprise. "Ask the Cards a Question" is a fine addition to this long-running series.

Rating:
Summary: Ask the Cards a Question
Review: "Ask the Cards a Question" is the second of the Sharon McCone novels by Marcia Muller following the groundbreaking "Edwin of the Iron Shoes" which introduced McCone as the first hard-boiled female private investigator. Molly Antonio, a tenant in Sharon's building is found dead by her husband, Gus. She had been strangled. With things slow at the All Soul's Legal Cooperative where Sharon works, she is able to work on the case. She finds quite a few suspects along the way. The ending is sure to surprise. "Ask the Cards a Question" is a fine addition to this long-running series.

Rating:
Summary: The second Sharon McCone Mystery
Review: In this second installment of the series, Investigator Sharon McCone has taken in her friend Linnea, who has just gone through a traumatic divorce. Added to this, one of Sharon's favorite neighbors, Molly Antonio, has been found murdered. Sharon is asked to investigate the murder, and she finds a group of suspects including a neighborhood grocer, a neighborhood fortune-teller and her husband, and the people who live in a nearby center for the blind. As always, Muller sketches out her characters and plot in an efficient manner and writes an interesting and coherant mystery.

Rating:
Summary: The second Sharon McCone Mystery
Review: In this second installment of the series, Investigator Sharon McCone has taken in her friend Linnea, who has just gone through a traumatic divorce. Added to this, one of Sharon's favorite neighbors, Molly Antonio, has been found murdered. Sharon is asked to investigate the murder, and she finds a group of suspects including a neighborhood grocer, a neighborhood fortune-teller and her husband, and the people who live in a nearby center for the blind. As always, Muller sketches out her characters and plot in an efficient manner and writes an interesting and coherant mystery.

Rating:
Summary: A simpler version of Kinsey Millhone
Review: This is my first McCone book, and my first impression is it is very similar in style to Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone, without quite as much of a hard edge. The writing style is simpler and faster to read than Grafton's, and the mystery was not too terribly hard to solve, given the abundance of bad characters (all of which being guilty of something). I was expecting McCone's houseguest to be the scapegoat, which never really happened. The interplay between McCone and the police was not very realistic. All in all, it was a fun read, but not extremely exciting. The story had the potential to be much more interesting.

Rating:
Summary: A simpler version of Kinsey Millhone
Review: This is my first McCone book, and my first impression is it is very similar in style to Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone, without quite as much of a hard edge. The writing style is simpler and faster to read than Grafton's, and the mystery was not too terribly hard to solve, given the abundance of bad characters (all of which being guilty of something). I was expecting McCone's houseguest to be the scapegoat, which never really happened. The interplay between McCone and the police was not very realistic. All in all, it was a fun read, but not extremely exciting. The story had the potential to be much more interesting.