THE EVER-RUNNING MAN: A Sharon McCone Mystery
Marcia Muller
Grand Central Publishing
Mystery
ISBN-10: 0446582425
ISBN-13: 9780446582421

• Read an Excerpt

When veteran detective Sharon McCone married Hy Ripinsky in her last adventure, VANISHING POINT, she knew she was marrying a man with a dark past. Ripinsky is a hostage release specialist with Renshaw & Kessell International, a security firm made up of two other partners who share a connection as cargo pilots from years past in Southeast Asia.

When a series of explosions damage several of RKI's branch offices, the partners at first suspect terrorism and hire Sharon McCone's firm to investigate. The violence grows personal as McCone narrowly escapes a deadly explosion at the San Francisco headquarters where an employee is killed as the bomb goes off in the lobby. Just before this occurred, she spotted a man running down the alley.

During her investigation, other witnesses describe a similar individual running away from the scene before each explosion. McCone turns her crew of computer and industrial espionage experts loose on the case. She decides to investigate the backgrounds of each of RKI's partners as she begins to suspect that the bomber carries a personal grudge against the company. This leads to delving into the past of the newest partner --- her bridegroom --- which threatens their relationship as questions surface about his connection to activities with the cargo firm while in Thailand. Suspicion mounts as the investigation uncovers some unsavory connections to drug and munitions running by the other partners.

As first one partner and then the second disappear, McCone is torn between concern for her husband's safety and suspicion of his activities. As she closes in on the bomber, both her marriage and her life are in jeopardy.

Marcia Muller has created a colorful cast of characters that weaves through each of her novels in an enduring family saga. Fans will remember McCone's shaky beginnings in San Francisco in the 1970s when she started the All-Souls Detective Agency with characters as hip and altruistic as the times. Her business and her lifestyle have changed since then, but she wears well with her readers. She has developed strong survival skills and pilots her plane, stakes out her suspects and takes them down like the pro she has become.

THE EVER-RUNNING MAN is as taut and finely honed a mystery as any of the preceding 24 Sharon McCone novels.

     --- Reviewed by Roz Shea

Click here now to buy this book from Amazon.com.

© Copyright 1996-2008, Bookreporter.com. All rights reserved.

Back to top.