Murder at the Watergate : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: An interesting read
Review: I love mysteries. I love suspense as well. And this book didn't fail in that respect. However, I am spoiled, I like really good writing when I am reading a mystery ~~ this book doesn't qualify.

Mac Smith is appointed by the Vice-President Angrile to go to Mexico to oversee the elections there. There have been a series of murders lately ~~ and it all points to the ruling class in Mexico ~~ as they fought to keep the political powers in their grasp. Stories and rumors fly about in Washington and Mac Smith is right in the middle of it. His wife joins him on the trip to Mexico and they're in the midst of all the excitement.

It is a fast read ~~ an interesting one. But if you're looking for a book with some substance to it ~~ this book would not be it. It is just a fast mystery read that you don't have to think about the characters much. It's a perfect read for a lying-in on a blanket while enjoying the fall colors.

9-22-03

Rating:
Summary: A good yawn?
Review: No fan of her writings, I still buy them all, when they become available in paperbacks, because I like the "inside" insights she always has to offer on Washington. But after 13 (or is it 14?) I have to repeat what I said about the third one: Poor Meg, she never could sing and she still can't write! In Watergate she almost outdoes herself for bad grammar, awkward syntax and malapropisms; this one afforded opportunities for bad Spanish as well, of which she took plenty of advantage. Otherwise we have the usual plodding method: No one can come onstage without a complete inventory of how he is dressed, whether or not it adds to his character portrayal. No one can eat a meal without a litany of courses obvioualy drawn from the restaurant menu. Every movement through any city has to be traced out on a city map. I'm sure by now she has a healthy library of menus, maps and fashion magazines, where what she really needs is a good editor. But there is something new in Watergate, or anyway something I've not noticed in previous Murders here and there -- political polemics, and the lady plainly does not understand the politics or economics of free trade, and her bungling treatment of NAFTA detracts from an already-less-than-mediocre story.

Rating:
Summary: Truman still in form, and still fun to read
Review: While Murder at the Watergate will not be listed at the top of Margaret Truman's Capitol Crimes mysteries, it won't be anywhere near the bottom. Since Ms. Truman found her characters, Mac Smith and Annabel Reed, her mysteries have become more fun, her comments and asides about Washington DC more spirited and pointed and her writing breezier. While not every plot is a winner--the murders at the National Gallery, the National Cathedral and the Kennedy Center were hits, while the Potomac, the Pentagon and particularly the FBI were misses, each new entry in the series is eagerly anticipated. Keep the mysteries coming, along with the barbs, the insider references and the pointed comments. Each one makes for an easy and pleasant summer read.