Ashes to Ashes

Peter Brichter #3

by Mary Monica Pulver

A body is found in “Crazy Dave” Wagner’s appliance store after the store is destroyed by a fire. Detective Peter Brichter is called in because local organized crime is thought to be involved. Brichter consults arson investigator Captain Isaac (Zak) Kader, and other officers in the police department, but no matter how many suspects they interview, they seem no closer to solving the case. Meanwhile, at home, Kori Brichter struggles with the right timing to tell Peter that she’s pregnant, after they agreed they would not have children.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction

282 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

AKA Monica Ferris
AKA Margaret Frazer

Mary Monica Pulver (her maiden name) is an incidental Hoosier -- Terre Haute, Indiana, had the hospital closest to her parents' home in Marshall, Illinois. She spent the later part of her childhood and early adult life in Wisconsin, graduating from high school in Milwaukee. She was a journalist in the U.S. Navy for six and a half years (two in London), and later attended the University of Wisconsin at Madison. She is married to a museum curator.

Series:
* Peter Brichter

Reviews

[Blaire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mary Monica Pulver writes unassuming little mysteries that are kind of hard to find, but I always enjoy them. I guess you'd have to categorize them as police procedurals, since the protagonist, Peter Brichter, is a cop. They read more like cozies, though. Even when bad things happen, and they do, they are underplayed and you can count on the author being kind to her major characters. I like Peter Brichter and I find Ms. Pulver's plots to be well-constructed. There are usually a pretty good cast of supporting characters as well. In this book, I found a character named Eddie Dahl, a corrupt colleague of Brichter's, to be especially well done. If I had to identify a weak point, it would be the protagonist's relationship with his wife, Kori. The dialog between the two of them just doesn't ring true to my ear. The Society for Creative Anachronism figures large in some of the books in this series. It gets a very brief, almost token, mention in this one and has absolutely nothing to do with the plot.

[Doug Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

Detective Sergeant Peter Brichter is asked to help with a murder/arson case because of possible organized crime connections. Along with a puzzling case, he faces challenges on the job in dealing with Eddie Dahl, a dirty cop who is his partner on the case; and challenges at home as he and his young wife Katherine argue about starting a family. He also starts to make a new friend in skilled arson investigator and fellow bibliophile Isaac Kader.

In this third novel in a series of five, I enjoyed spending some more time with the interesting set of characters introduced in The Unforgiving Minutes.

[Maddy · Rating 3 out of 5]

RATING: 3.5

[Noel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better than its predecessor, but not by too much. At least both of them were free.

[Elaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wouldn't necessarily give this a 4-star rating but with a lot fewer names to keep track of, this one was more enjoyable than the first in the series.

[Pat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Peter Brichter is the cop, married to a nice rich woman who loves horses.
Works with fire dept to solve a fire/murder at Crazy Dave's Appliance Store.
pretty good.