Engineered for Murder : A Mystery

Rating:
Summary: Interesting premise, but where was the editor???
Review: As a former engineering technician and avid mystery buff, I couldn't wait to get my hands on a book with an engineer sleuth, and a female one to boot!

I'm not entirely disappointed with the book. The mystery was interesting, although it was pretty easy to figure out early on, and Schumacher managed to weave detailed engineering information into the story in a way that wouldn't make the average person's eyes glaze over. Alvarez the detective was a wonderful character, smart, arrogant, but with a chip on his shoulder covering a wee bit of insecurity. If only the book had been about HIM!

On the minus side was the lead character, the engineer, Tory... The author's descriptions of her were trite and repeated over and over again: Incredible blue eyes and long legs and how tall Tory was and how she didn't have to work hard at maintaining her weight. Yeah, yeah, I got the idea the FIRST time any of it was mentioned. At least the author could say it in a different way the second or third (or heaven forbid) fourth round of the same description. As a person, Tory came off as too stiff and flat, even downright cold and drab--despite having a rather torrid past. Even her temper seems forced, somehow. Perhaps later in the series she improves.

The secondary characters are stereotypical, and some disturbingly sketchy. Tory's interaction with her son left me agog--it was virtually non-existent, even though we hear what a great mother she is. Oh really? She barely notices him or considers the effect her actions (or inactions) might have on him. Her refusal to take seriously a death threat would have been understandable coming from a childless heroine like Milhone or Warshawski, but for a mother not to even consider the effect such a threat could have on her son seemed awfully cold-blooded. The author also made a horrible mistake by not letting us "be there" when Tory received the death threat against her son. Rather, we first hear about it thirdhand through Alvarez's POV, when Tory's secretary tells him about it. Perhaps if Schumacher had shown us Tory's terror and concern for her child, I might have liked Tory better.

Another annoyance was the explanations of various Hispanic slang terms, like the author thought readers would be too stupid to know what most of them meant. It would have been different if the terms had been really unusual, or had a specific local usage, but most were standard fare. Explaining the pronunciation of the name Jesus was downright insulting. Nobody living in the Southwest would make that mistake, especially not anyone in a place as close to the Mexican border as Las Cruces or El Paso.

Finally, I don't think I've seen such lengthy chapters since Dickens. Breaking up the chapters into smaller parts would have heightened the tension.

In the author's defense, it was her first book, and a better editor would have corrected 90% of the faults listed above. Perhaps Schumacher gets a better one later in the series, or, considering the state of publishing these days, she gets a clue herself about what to keep and what to cut. Despite all the faults, Engineered for Murder piqued my interest enough to continue the series, but the priority isn't high. I'll get to the rest of the series...someday.

Rating:
Summary: Female Engineer mixes with macho El Paso detective! KaBam!!
Review: Parker has Spenser and Susan, Burke has Robicheaux and Bootsie, Taylor has Ed and Eleanor, and Schumacher has Tory Travers and David Alvarez. And she also has a very good first mystery novel in "Engineered for Murder." There is a good plot, the story is fast paced, very interesting and believable. The locale is the Southwest. The characters are well developed and true to type. Engineer meets detective. And when the engineer is female and beautiful (and smart) and the detective is macho Senior Detective David Alvarez of the El Paso Police, the meeting is memorable. And it gets better as it goes along. So - you readers - you come along. There will be more books and more memories. This book is a great beginning!

Rating:
Summary: A Dazzling Debut Mystery
Review: Tory Travers is a no-nonsense head of a small New Mexico engineering firm, whose business and personal life are threatened by exposure when a quality control technician, freelancing as an investigative journalist informs her that he has uncovered a scandal in Tory's past. When the technician is murdered, Tory becomes the object of professional and personal interest of the equally no-nonsense Detective David Alvarez who finds himself puzzled, frequently irritated and ultimately captivated by the widowed Tory. The well-plotted tale has just enough technical information to give dimension to the story, yet not so much that we are overburdened with exposition. In fact, Schumacher handles this balance of exposition with sound plotting better than any of the recent writer-specialists. In Tory Travers, Schumacher has developed an intriguiging heroine whose often chaotic personal life is contrasted with an astute professional one. There is a problem-solving aspect to her profession that makes her an ideal amateur sleuth, and a curiosity that spills over into rashness that generates some interesting sparks in the relationship with Alvarez. The romantic antagonism between Travers and Alvarez sizzles in this highly entertaining, well-plotted, suspenseful first mystery. Very highly recommended.