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Samantha Kincaid has her hands full in CLOSE CASE by Alafair Burke. This is the third book featuring the Oregon Deputy District Attorney, who is enmeshed in a love affair with a detective; is called upon to investigate the shooting death by a white cop of an African-American woman, Delores Tompkins; and is the "go to" person who has to deal with the fallout of a neighborhood protest, held so that the authorities know the community will not accept a whitewash, where no justice is found for the victim, Tompkins. The rally ends in chaos. Then, to stir the pot even more, a beloved African-American investigative reporter and activist, Percy Crenshaw, is murdered outside his home after the vigil.
The public outcry is heard by the powers that be, which sends the politicos scrambling to barricade themselves behind their staffs, who are expected to apply due diligence and solve the crimes. Samantha opines: "The news now ha[s] one more story to add to the pile of coverage about Delores Tompkins and the protest." Her boss tells her she is being assigned these cases because "It's not just their race ... haven't you picked up a paper in the last week? Officer Hamilton struck three bullets into that woman's head."
Of course Samantha takes on both cases and in her inimitable way manages to maintain her integrity even while she inevitably shoves the noses of her superiors out of joint. Burke says of her feisty character, "A defining characteristic for Sam is her near-pathological obsession to pursue what she considers to be justice. She's so consumed by doing what's 'right' --- as she defines it --- she often screws up her [personal and work-related relationships, and] she doesn't want to sell out to office politics at the expense of her own moral vision."
At first the cases seem unrelated. But the more Kincaid investigates, the more convinced she becomes that the killings are not isolated incidents. At the same time, she is forced to face the crosscurrents and divided loyalties among her colleagues: the cops begin to see her as a pariah, which becomes an insidious wedge between her and the detective she loves. But this DA will not be deterred in her quest to solve the crimes. According to the author, one of the devices that saves her is that
"...Samantha's job takes her both into the courtroom in traditional ways [and] also out into the field with police during the investigation. The breadth of her official responsibilities gives me a great deal of flexibility in the storytelling. Some plot points are developed in court, but many are not."
Alafair Burke was a DA in Portland, Oregon, and in an interview she explains why Samantha is also a DA: "I borrow details from my own courthouse experiences and about Portland itself. [Samantha spends little time in the courtroom because if I place her there, I am caught in] "... the limiting nature of courtroom discourse [which I believe] is not very dramatic. Also, realistically, prosecutors spend little...time in actual trials. Instead, they occupy this world in between the police precinct and the courtroom, where the real action takes place in the criminal justice system. It's there where the important decisions get made about whom the investigation will target and how the investigation will proceed. I find that world a much more fascinating place than the courtroom itself."
For all of these reasons, and more, CLOSE CASE is an enjoyable read. The well limned characters, interesting plot, believability of the crime, and the way Burke brings readers right into the investigation add to the tension and suspense. In an online interview Burke said that she is at work on her fourth Samantha Kincaid novel and if she decides to "try something without her...I'll always keep coming back to her character as long as she continues to be interesting and grow through the series. The real challenge for me in writing a series will be to keep Samantha interesting and fresh, but still familiar."
--- Reviewed by Barbara Lipkien Gershenbaum
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