Darden, Christopher, with Jess Walter. In Contempt HarperCollins, 1996Hardcover, 387 pages ISBN 0-06-039183-9 Other than the victims’ families, few people were as visibly shaken by the verdict in the O.J. Simpson trial as prosecutor Christopher Darden. For him, that trial was a true trial by fire, not merely his job but an undertaking that forced him to […]
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Grafton, Sue. “L” is for Lawless (1995) Holt, 290 pages, $24.00 hardcoverISBN 0-8050-1937-5 Many critics called “K” is for Killer Grafton’s darkest, most disturbing novel. Grafton herself may have felt the same way, because “L” is for Lawless seems to be a concerted attempt at humor. The novel opens in comical circumstances: Henry Pitts, Kinsey’s
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Woods, Stuart. Choke (1995) Harper Collins, 280 pages, $23.00 hardcover ISBN 0-06-017667-9 Twenty some years ago Chuck Chandler choked. Right on Centre Court at Wimbledon. He squandered three match points, then went on to lose the most prestigious championship in tennis. It’s 1995 when we next see Chuck, who has just arrived in Key
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Grafton, Sue. “K” is for Killer (1994)Holt, 285 pages, $22.95 hardcoverISBN 0-8050-1936-7 Janice Kepler is having trouble coping with her daughter’s death. She’s joined a support group but finds it little comfort. One night she leaves the group meeting early and sees a light on in the office of Millhone Investigations. Janice explains to Kinsey
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Woods, Stuart. Palindrome (1991) Harper, 447 pages, $5.99 paperback ISBN 0 06 109936 8 A woman staggers into a hospital emergency room so badly beaten she’s unrecognizable. The patient is Liz Barwick, professional photographer and wife of pro football player Baker Ramsey. After receiving a hefty divorce settlement from Ramsey ,thought of obtaining
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Cornwell, Patricia. Hornet’s Nest (1996) G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 377 pages, $25.95 hardcover ISBN 0 399 14228 2 I hoped that a break from Dr. Scarpetta might rejuvenate Patricia Cornwell’s writing. It didn’t. This is among the worst novels I’ve ever read. Most books this poorly written would end up in some editor’s wastebasket.
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Rule, Ann. Dead by Sunset Simon & Schuster, 1995Hardcover, 429 pagesISBN 0-684-80205-8 In this true-crime book Ann Rule tells the story of Cheryl Keeton, who was bludgeoned to death and left in her Toyota van on the highway so that an accident would cover her murder, in September, 1986, in Portland, Oregon. Rule also tells the
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Woods, Stuart. Under the Lake (1987) Avon, $6.50 paperback ISBN 0 30 70519 2 In this excellent supernatural thriller, John Howell, former newspaper reporter and recipient of the Nobel Prize, is approaching 40. Having burned out on newspaper work, he is now supposedly working on The Great American Novel; actually, he spends his days
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Cornwell, Patricia. Cause of Death (1996) G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 340 pages, $25.95 hardcover ISBN 0 399 14146 4 This book opens with a powerful image: “On the last morning of Virginia’s bloodiest year since the Civil War, I built a fire and sat facing a window of darkness where at sunrise I knew
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Cornwell, Patricia. From Potter’s Field (1995) Scribner, 412 pages, $24.00 hardcover ISBN 0-684-19598-4 In the few days surrounding Christmas, Dr. Kay Scarpetta, Pete Marino (now a police captain), and FBI agent Benton Wesley pursue Temple Gault, a serial killer who has appeared in earlier Scarpetta novels. Scarpetta’s niece, computer whiz Lucy, now age
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