Sins of Silence

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Summary: A good new mystery series about sailing
Review: Forty-year-old Kellie Montgomery lives by herself on a boat anchored at the Larstad Marina near Seattle. Kellie, who earns a living from teaching sailing, feels pretty good about the world since her neighbor, attorney Donald Moyer, found the daughter that Kellie had to give up for adoption over two decades ago.

When Donald and his wife are found murdered, Kellie feels strongly that she owes it to him to uncover the identity of his killer. The police and her family want the amateur sleuth to mind her own business because they fear that her digging could make her the next victim sailing dead in the bay. However, Kellie believes she can solve the case and nothing, even the threat of being killed, can stop her from continuing to search for the culprit.

In her debut novel, Valerie Wilcox shows much talent and clearly a love of sailing, the sea, and Seattle. Though readers must accept Kellie's reasons for investigation the killings, that shortcoming does not hurt the tale. The story line is as crisp as a chilly morning out at sea and the sub-plots add several leagues of depth. The characters, especially Kellie, bring to life living at a marina, turning SINS OF SILENCE into a fabulous sea cruise.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Light on the mystery, but still enjoyable
Review: I enjoyed a lot of things about this story, particularly the adoption subplot. Kellie Montgomery is an attractive heroine, and the scenes with her and her adopted daughter concerning the daughter's decision to search for her birth mother were very moving.

The mystery itself is a bit light, but hopefully this will improve as the series progresses.

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Summary: Seattle, sailing and spunky Mom = Super!
Review: Kellie Montgomery, sailing instructor, live-aboard, and single mother of an adopted daughter, voluntarily investigates...snoops actually...into the deaths of a couple with whom she has a passing acquaintance. Her interest ostensibly stems from personal concerns involving her daughter, Cassie. But the truth is, Kellie is plagued with an inquisitive nature.

Valerie Wilcox joins a growing cadre of Pacific Northwest authors capitalizing upon Seattle's scenic setting for their venue. In Sins of Silence the mystery takes a backseat to the adoption issues, undoubtedly due to the author's background as an adoptive mom. Her style is reminiscent of Sue Grafton's. Although this first novel suffers from predictability, I expect plot subtlety and complexity will improve with experience in subsequent novels. I anticipate she will prove a creditable peer with other local talent such as J.A. Jance and Mary Daheim.

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Summary: Moves you right along, if you can ignor the details
Review: The story was good and the setting was engaging. However, a liveaboard would either keep her boat ship shape and ready for heavy sailing (or risk having a cabin full of water or trashed ... maybe that's why she never bothers to clean up?) or she would keep it in the moorage. How many coffee mugs does she keep aboard a tight liveaboard that she can repeatedly scrounge up? The adoption plot is well reasoned and well done. However, her daughter is home for days and Kellie can't even be bothered to lift the phone to call and hear her voice. Then, heaven forbid she should be an hour early to here sister's home Christmas Eve to spend extra time with her child! No wonder the kid is looking for her birth mother. The psychiatric social worker goes from the term "labile" to the more 'layman friendly' term "loose boundaries." The later is used more often when trying to be vague than the former. Etc. etc. Like I said. If you are intimately involved with the things the auther has had lessons on, try to ignore the details. For a first book, this one is great. I look forward to reading more.

Rating:
Summary: Good beginning, hope this series gets better
Review: There's a lot to enjoy in this story, probably the least of which is the mystery. I liked the main character very much, and there are several passages on sailing that definitely pulled me in.

The adoption subplot is the most effective element of this story, where Kellie must deal with feelings of rejection when her adopted daughter decides to search for her birth mother. There are some very good sections on the daughter's need to find her identity, as well as on the tense dynamics among Kellie's extended family.

Unfortunately, the mystery is weak, the murderer fairly obvious. While Kellie has good motivation for pursuing an investigation as an amateur, and she meets some very interesting characters along the way, the red herrings were simply not strong enough to distract from the true solution.

There are elements of this story that will resonate with me for a long time. I'm looking forward to seeing the next Wilcox book, where hopefully the mystery will improve to match the quality of the subplot and the overall writing.

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Summary: Publishers Weekly Review -- June 15, 1998
Review: Wilcox's debut, and the first of her Elliot Bay mystery series, features plucky sailing instructor Kellie Montgomery. A 40-year-old widow, Kellie lives alone aboard a sailboat moored in a marina near Seattle. A neighboring slip harbors the yacht belonging to the attorney who found Kellie a daughter through private adoption 20 years earlier. When the attorney and his wife are discovered murdered out on the bay, Kellie's curiosity is aroused[...]. Altogether this is a distinctive and intriguing launch.

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Summary: Redmond, Washington, reader reviews Sins Of Silence
Review: Yes! I found this mystery from new Northwest writer Valerie Wilcox to be a thoroughly enjoyable and suspenseful read. Wilcox has a wonderful sense of humor that comes through via her protagonist's personality, bringing to mind such memorable characters as Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta and DeMille's John Corey. Sailing instructor heroine Kellie Montgomery is a rich character whose may facets and foibles are woven into the plot fabric to create a more complex tapestry than is often found in the mystery genre. I highly recommend this book and hope Kellie resurfaces in future adventures.