Cheryl R. (Spuddie) -
Helpful Score: 2
#2 Berger & Mitry mystery featuring NY movie critic Mitch Berger, a pudgy white Jewish guy, and his new girlfriend, State Trooper, budding artist and bodacious black woman Desiree Mitry. When a local teacher is burned up in a car crash caused by a high-powered rifle shooting the gas tank, speculation abounds as to whether the intended victim was really Moose or her half-sister Takai, an exotically beautiful but much-disliked real estate agent. That they are both daughters of a famous reclusive local sculptor only adds fuel to the fire. Des and Mitch are both thrown into the investigation, Des in a professional capacity and Mitch at the behest of the sculptor, whom Mitch recently met and who is mourning for his beloved daughter Moose. Enjoyable, well-written and with great characters.
goddesslovingbookworm -
Helpful Score: 1
A great couple--a Jewish movie critic dating an African-American former cop turned artist--and a greater setting--Connecticut suburbia; this is part of a series although it stands alone well. Even though I solved the "who" fairly early, I was still turned upside-down and around with a lot of the plot and would never have guessed how it would all end.
Very enjoyable!
Very enjoyable!
Cathy C. (cathyskye) -
Helpful Score: 1
First Line: This wasn't supposed to happen.
Mitch Merger is a New York film critic and author of two movie reference books. His lover, Desiree Mitry, is black, younger, very tall, and a former homicide investigator for the State Police. They both live in small town Dorset, Connecticut, where Mitch is spending his first autumn on Big Sister, a private island. "Des" has resigned from the State Police and is now a small town cop, which allows her the time she needs to take art classes.
Both of them get caught up in a dispute between pro-development locals and those residents who want Dorset to stay just the way it is. One person who's in the Leave Dorset Alone Camp is eccentric world-famous sculptor Wendell "Hangtown" Frye, and Mitch finds himself spinning in the old man's orbit.
Handler's plot of small town pleasures and developers who plot to destroy those pleasures is a very familiar one, but what saves it is the author's wonderful talent for description and characterization. Handler is one of the few authors who actually make me want to head East to live with his vivid portrayal of coastal Connecticut in autumn:
"The summer people were gone now, the kids back in school. The water was bluer and colder, the sky clearer and spiced with the smell of wood smoke. Migratory barn swallows and monarch butterflies filled his trees by the thousands, pausing to feed on insects before they took off again like a cloud for the Carolinas."
Pairing amateur sleuth Berger with police officer Mitry is a good move because the investigation can be seen from both points of view. The chemistry between the two is almost perfect. There's enough spice there to satisfy most lovers of romance, but not enough to put off those readers who prefer their mysteries sans lip lock. Perhaps in the next book, Des will realize that it's a complete waste of time to try to hide their relationship in a small town.
I'm quite glad that I grabbed the first four books in this series because, so far, I'm enjoying every page.
Mitch Merger is a New York film critic and author of two movie reference books. His lover, Desiree Mitry, is black, younger, very tall, and a former homicide investigator for the State Police. They both live in small town Dorset, Connecticut, where Mitch is spending his first autumn on Big Sister, a private island. "Des" has resigned from the State Police and is now a small town cop, which allows her the time she needs to take art classes.
Both of them get caught up in a dispute between pro-development locals and those residents who want Dorset to stay just the way it is. One person who's in the Leave Dorset Alone Camp is eccentric world-famous sculptor Wendell "Hangtown" Frye, and Mitch finds himself spinning in the old man's orbit.
Handler's plot of small town pleasures and developers who plot to destroy those pleasures is a very familiar one, but what saves it is the author's wonderful talent for description and characterization. Handler is one of the few authors who actually make me want to head East to live with his vivid portrayal of coastal Connecticut in autumn:
"The summer people were gone now, the kids back in school. The water was bluer and colder, the sky clearer and spiced with the smell of wood smoke. Migratory barn swallows and monarch butterflies filled his trees by the thousands, pausing to feed on insects before they took off again like a cloud for the Carolinas."
Pairing amateur sleuth Berger with police officer Mitry is a good move because the investigation can be seen from both points of view. The chemistry between the two is almost perfect. There's enough spice there to satisfy most lovers of romance, but not enough to put off those readers who prefer their mysteries sans lip lock. Perhaps in the next book, Des will realize that it's a complete waste of time to try to hide their relationship in a small town.
I'm quite glad that I grabbed the first four books in this series because, so far, I'm enjoying every page.
