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The mystery genre, it might be said, is a house with many rooms. There's the
hard-boiled room the drawing room room, the locked room...and the domestic room. The
domestic room doesn't get a lot of press. These are mysteries that are normally set in
suburbia and involve amateur sleuths --- normally housewives --- who ask some questions,
make some deductions, and find themselves solving mysteries that are not necessarily
complex but are nonetheless intriguing enough to keep the reader reading and wondering.
And what more do you need with a mystery?
Molly Masters is the "Fax Lady." I've got to admit, when I first heard of the
"Fax Lady" series, I though that this was another example of the bloated public
school bureaucracy gone amok. I mean, the school where my wife teaches has an assistant
principal who does nothing but take care of the vending machines, so...why not a lady who
does nothing but faxes (don't get me started). But no. Molly Masters has a home business
that involves the creation and faxing of greeting cards by request. An interesting niche
market. Of course, interesting doesn't put food on the table, and as Molly herself notes,
her business isn't making a whole lot of bucks. She accordingly has time to solve
mysteries in her bedroom community, and boy, do people drop dead around her with
frightening regularity. WHEN THE FAX LADY SINGS is the fifth of this series and contains
the basic elements of the earlier books: a murder, an interesting cast of potential
suspects, and a number of personal domestic subplots that keep things moving.
WHEN THE FAX LADY SINGS opens with a somewhat unlikely scene of the crime: a fundraiser
variety show dress rehearsal for the Carlton Central High School PTA. Molly and six other
individuals are dressed as look-alike clowns when one of them murders Corinne Buldock, the
director, in full view of God and everyone. Molly is removed from suspicion, since the
homicidal clown brushed right past her just before the murder occurred. That leaves six
suspects, any one of whom could have had a motive. And part of the strength of WHEN THE
FAX LADY SINGS lies in exploring the motives of the six suspects.
Corinne, it seems, was a bit of a hot number. It's rumored that she was involved with a
student and a teacher. The teacher and the student's parent are both present ---
but there is more going on within the school's hallowed halls than that. Molly slowly but
surely uncovers evidence that parents of graduating seniors are engaged in some activities
to make sure that their child graduates as Valedictorian. But would they stoop to
murder? I initially considered this to be farfetched. But then I thought about the Texas
parent who was willing to murder so that her daughter would get on the high school
cheerleading squad. Consider the competition for a prized seat at an Ivy League college,
and it doesn't seem so far-fetched after all.
There are other considerations as well that make WHEN THE FAX LADY SINGS a cut above the
usual domestic mystery. Molly, while attempting to identify the murderer, is also
attempting to have some remodeling work done on her home. This, of course, requires a
contractor. Molly's dealings with her contractor are so true-to-life that anyone who has
every had such work done will identify with it immediately. The broken promises, the less
than satisfactory work, the incidental damage, the laconic workers...this is art imitating
life. Molly's occasional difficulties with her children, one of whom is taking the first
tentative steps toward adolescence, are also true to life. WHEN THE FAX LADY SINGS
demonstrates why the Fax Lady series, as well as the domestic mystery genre, remains
highly, if quietly, popular.
--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
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