LOCKED IN: A Sharon McCone Mystery
Marcia Muller
Grand Central Publishing
Mystery
ISBN: 9780446581059
Fans of Marcia Muller’s popular Sharon McCone series have come to expect a good, well-written story, populated with familiar family and friends. Wry humor, crackling banter, thorough investigative techniques and brilliant legal work have all become hallmarks of her mysteries. But it’s always a special thrill when a book goes beyond expectations and the author delivers even more. Muller does just that with LOCKED IN.
This latest installment in the series immediately pulls the reader into the world of San Francisco, from the salty mist drifting in off the bay to the groan of a distant foghorn. As the book opens, Sharon is hurrying back to her office on the pier to retrieve her cell phone, quickening her steps as night descends. Sounds and echoes of the evening are exaggerated by her surroundings, setting the tone for something ominous to occur. Upon reaching her workplace, the unthinkable happens, and she is shot. When she finally regains consciousness 10 days later, she finds herself paralyzed, unable to speak or move any part of her body except for her eyes.
Friends and family alike are not only in shock but enraged, eager to bring whoever shot Sharon to justice. Some are even ready to exact immediate vengeance. And when the investigators attempting to find the culprit begin looking closely at a number of seemingly unrelated cases that Sharon was working on (the death of a young prostitute, the apparent murder/suicide of two top San Francisco politicos, and the missing gay scion of a successful wine-producing family), they find a thread that leads to some questionable practices at Pro Terra, an environmental group seeped in local politics. What does this group have to do with all these dissimilar cases? Are they the ones responsible for Sharon’s condition?
Sir Walter Scott once said, “Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.” And a tangled web is what the team finds as it fans out to track down who is to blame for Sharon’s unfortunate circumstances. All the lies and deceptions practiced by those involved in these overlapping cases make getting to the truth almost impossible. However, it all begins to come together as Sharon becomes a part of the team, using only her eyelids to blink “yes” or “no.” The teamwork that has been built up over the years proves itself once again.
LOCKED IN is written in bite-sized chapters from each of the main characters’ perspectives, making it very fast-paced. So lock yourself in your favorite reading cave and enjoy the latest Sharon McCone mystery. This is one you’ll want to read straight through.
--- Reviewed by Maggie Harding, a substance abuse counselor in Phoenix, AZ who wanted to be Brenda Starr before life intervened. She reviews for www.bookreporter.com, www.faithfulreader.com and www.livinglightnews.com. To contact Maggie, e-mail Magster2@cox.net.
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