|
|
|
Feminist Mystery Reviews
BLUE
Abigail Padgett
Mysterious, Aug 1998, $22.00, 324 pp.
ASIN: 0-89296-671-8
Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
A side effect of a minor earthquake that recently rocked the San
Diego area was to disarm the timer of a public food locker just
outside the desert town of Borrego Springs. With the hundred plus
degree temperatures pulsating on the faulty freezer, a body begins
to thaw out. A widow, sixty-one-year old Muffin Crandall confesses
that five years ago she killed, mutilated, and froze an intruder
breaking into her home. Muffin's much younger brother, Dan, refuses
to believe that his sibling killed the man. For a sizable fee, he
hires social psychologist Dr. B. McCarron (better known as Blue
among her friends and relatives) to see if she can somehow refute
the confession by analyzing his sister. After meeting the raucous
Muffin in prison, Blue is convinced the woman is too smart and experienced
to have dispatched a body in the place that the victim was found.
This leaves Blue wondering why an obviously intelligent and hard-woking
woman like Muffin would confess to a crime she did not commit. Blue's
investigation soon places her life in jeopardy as she tangles with
a female conspiracy that forces her to dig deep into her gut in
order to survive. BLUE is an interesting who-done-it, fully constructed
around a viable, courageous, and gay heroine, who will steal the
heart and soul of readers. The mystery is fun and exciting, but
in the final analysis, the author of the exciting Bo Bradley series,
Abigail Padgett, has imbued her new series with a feminist who will
leave fans feeling blue if more works are not soon released.
|