Book obtained from:
Library New Books shelf, audio book
Description:
Widowed police chief Katherine Sullivan turned in her badge and is
now pursuing an interest in art in Taos New Mexico. She returns
temporarily to her hometown in Minnesota to support her
recently-divorced daughter and her two grandchildren. While there,
she is drawn in to a murder investigation.
Plot: While
back in Minnesota, Sullivan visits an art museum. The next day, the
employee she spoke with at the museum is found murdered. Prior to
retirement, she was the chief of police, and certain current officers
ask her to help with the investigation. She teams up with another
retired officer, butts heads with the current chief, and solves the
mystery.
Characterization:
Katherine Sullivan is well developed and very grandmotherly to her
daughter and two grandchildren. However, she does NOT strike me as a
very competent police officer. She shuns back-up and puts herself
into potentially dangerous situations without much concern for her
own safety. I don't see a real former police officer doing that.
Her grandchildren were a teen boy with Asperger Syndrome [I have one
of those, the characterization was well-done] and a girl who is
portrayed as a typical cell-phone-dependent teen, although I don't
think she protested nearly as much as she should have, when subjected
to having her phone confiscated. The other retired officer was
nicely characterized.
Setting:
Minneapolis MN. Well described.
Other: The
mystery was good, and I enjoyed reading a main character who is older
than the norm, but it's hard to get past the notion that Sullivan
acted so far outside what I would think a typical police officer
would do, endangering her safety etc. Just because a person retires,
I'm sure all the previous training is not forgotten or discarded.
Overall:
This is a nice cozy mystery, if you can get past the character
problem. The book is narrated by Carrington MacDuffie and she did a
great job.
Grade: B-
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