Copyright 2014 by Smart Blonde LLC. Published bySt Martin’s Press, New York.

You all know about “chick flicks.” This is a “chick mystery.” Yes, it is a whodunit but it is also about feelings and relationships. You know – chick stuff. This is a book with very little testosterone.

The is one of Scottoline’s many books about the Rosato & DeNunzio law firm (though in the earlier books it was just Rosato). The main character in this book, however, is neither Rosato nor DeNunzio but rather Judy Carrier, the senior associate in this all-female Philadelphia law firm. It begins with the firm taking on a huge 75-case workload defending an asbestos manufacturer. This is a big deal for the law firm and a ready-made path to partner for Judy, but she hates the work. It seemed, early on, that the book would be all about these cases.

Not so. Personal problems intervened. She got a call informing her that her beloved Aunt Beth had breast cancer and was to undergo a radical mastectomy on Monday, just a weekend away. Judy heads to her aunt’s home, just over an hour away, to comfort her, joining her mother who has flown in from the west coast.

The three women are joined, briefly, by Iris, an illegal Mexican immigrant who is a gardening partner of Beth’s. Beth speaks very highly of Iris and it is clear she has grown very fond of this young 40ish woman.

So it is quite a shock when Iris turns up dead that very afternoon, the victim of a heart attack. Or so the medical examiner rules. But things don’t seem quite right to Beth and Judy agrees. She quietly starts to investigate Iris’ life.

Things quickly spiral out of control. Over the course of the weekend and the following Monday, Judy experiences an amazing variety of traumas, both physical and emotional. She is assaulted, chased by gunmen intent on murdering her, hides in a pile of manure, watches her VW and an informant being blown up, finds a large sum of money secreted in Beth’s home, dumps her boyfriend, loses control in a deposition and is slapped with what amounts to a malpractice complaint and learns that her Aunt Beth is not her aunt. That is what I call a busy few days. And none of it has anything to do with asbestos.

That probably sounds more exciting than it was. And more exciting than it should have been. The assaults and the car bombing really lacked motive. Why was it necessary for the bad guys to take this drastic action? She really knew very little and the whole nefarious scheme probably would have survived and continued to thrive if they had just ignored her. They brought the law down on themselves by attacking her. So I have a problem with the motive.

I also have a problem with the murder/assaults/car bombing being about 40% of the book – the rest is a recitation of Judy’s personal issues. Cancer, boyfriend, an aunt who is not an aunt. All interesting, but not a mystery. Chick stuff.

4 out of 10.

Copyright 2010 by Harlan Coben. Published by Penguin Group (USA) Inc., New York.

A (very) few of you may recall that I raved about Coben’s The Woods last August, rating it as one of the best mysteries that I have ever read. Well, move over, The Woods – you are going to have to share the top shelf with Caught.

The books are similar in one important way: the central mystery in both is a long-ago incident – a murder at a teen summer camp in The Woods and an incident at Princeton in Caught. Both traumatic incidents were life-altering to central characters in the books. Both resulted, after many years, in additional deaths. I think the depth of the trauma caused by the ancient incidents provides a great foundation for engrossing stories.

The story in this case starts with a divorced do-gooder, Dan Mercer, getting caught in a pedophile sting. He claims he was set up, but his protestations fall on deaf ears. His life is ruined. Even when his case is thrown out.

The TV reporter who organized and filmed the sting, Wendy Tynes, is fired when the case is thrown out as the judge ruled that she tainted the evidence. Partly because she had some free time and partly because something about the whole thing didn’t feel right to her, she continued to investigate. She eventually unravels the rather intricate story, which includes not only Dan Mercer but also 4 of his classmates at Princeton. Her digging leads to more death and more trauma, including trauma to her. But she perseveres.

The story is complex. It moves in directions that surprised me (e.g., I really thought that divorced Mercer and widowed Tynes were headed for a romance, but I couldn’t have been more wrong). Some characters are not who they seem to be. And every character has a part to play in the deeply satisfying conclusion.

I really need to read more Coben.

9.5 out of 10.

Copyright 2010 by Splendide Mendax Inc and Preston Child. Published by Grand Central Publishing.

This is #10 in the series of mysteries featuring Aloysius Pendergast, effete FBI special agent extraordinaire. It is only the second Pendergast mystery that I have read and that first one for me was #14 in the series, so some of the references that made little sense to me in that book came into focus a bit more while reading this one. In a series like this, with some continuity between books, it is probably best to start at the beginning. I may go back and do that.

Pendergast is an interesting if somewhat unbelievable character. Preston and Child want us to believe that an active FBI agent could investigate cases while driving a Rolls Royce. And that he is perfectly free to investigate cases on his own, as in this volume, without an extended leave from the FBI. Or that he can use “unconventional” methods, like destroying a bar by exploding a propane tank, without encountering some serious official blowback.

I try to be tolerant of all of this nonsense because I do, after all, enjoy the writings of Clive Cussler, a guy who pens the most ridiculous plots this side of sci-fi. Cussler’s main guy, Dirk Pitt, is similar to Pendergast in that he is capable of superhuman feats. You can’t enjoy a Cussler story without checking your disbelief at the door.

So why do I have difficulty giving the Pendergast character a similar pass? I think it is because with Cussler/Pitt the plots are so over-the-top and Cussler is so clearly pulling my leg that I feel that I am just along for the ride. With Preston and Child I don’t get the same sense of a shared joke. They want me to take Pendergast seriously. I have a very hard time doing that.

So, beyond my problem with the believability of the character, what do we have here? An intricate plot spanning over 12 years, starting with the death of Pendergast’s wife in the mouth of a lion. Yes, she was attacked by a lion while they were on safari. Pendergast found only her disembodied hand, with its distinctive ring still intact.

Twelve years later he happens to look at the gun she was using when she was killed and finds evidence that she had been shooting blanks. He realizes that rather than a tragic accident, her death was murder by lion. The rest of the book is a non-stop chase to find the murderer. It is fun, if unbelievable.

The endgame takes place in a swamp where he and a colleague are first attacked by a group of murderous local yahoos, bitten by an alligator, shot and nearly set on fire. But despite being outnumbered and outgunned, they prevail and find the murderer. Or one of two murderers. The other, at the end of the book, remains alive and undiscovered.

I can guess the plot for the Pendergast #11 book.

Another plot complaint: throughout the book there is a major subplot involving a young woman – Pendergast’s ward – who is arrested for infanticide. I was curious, as the plot unfolded, how this plot line was going to tie in to the death by lion and the battle in the swamp. Answer: it doesn’t. Apparently this was all one big “coming attractions” subplot for #11.

So despite being entertained by the main plot and the superhuman exploits of Pendergast, I found myself annoyed at being manipulated by Preston and Child.

6.5 out of 10.