Copyright 2004 by Nancy Whitman Geary. Published by Time Warner Book Group, New York.
It is usually good when, in a mystery story, everything fits together. But sometimes everything fits together just a little too well to be realistic. I am thinking of some of the Agatha Christie books, like Ten Little Indians or Murder on the Orient Express. Entertaining, for sure, but too nicely packaged to be anything but fiction.
Regrets Only is such a book. Exhibit A: A psychiatrist who is being interviewed for a prestigious post offers three “character witnesses” who turn out to be, respectively, her ex-husband, the father of her illegitimate twins and the adoptive father of said twins. Really? She couldn’t get a priest or a rabbi? And wouldn’t at least one of the two who were involved with her undisclosed illegitimate offspring recuse himself because of the obvious ethical conflict?
Exhibit B: The rookie homicide detective assigned to the murder of this psychiatrist is dating – and in love with – the abandoned son of the victim. Again, shouldn’t she have recused herself due to her strong emotional involvement?
Exhibit C: The cop’s boyfriend, who owns a bar, hosts an exhibit of drawings by a troubled young artist who, as it later becomes known, is the half-brother of the owner. This is a gratuitous coincidence that has little bearing on the plot. Why even include this odd coincidence?
So, while I thought the book was well-written, the coincidences overwhelmed me.
5 out of 10.