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Sharon McCone #30
The Night Searchers
When new clients Jay and Camilla Givens come to Sharon McCone with Camilla's stories of devil worshippers performing human sacrifices in San Francisco, the detective is skeptical, to say the least. However, when she discovers that Jay is involved with the treasure hunting group The Night Searchers, she starts looking into what exactly he and the other participants are up to after dark. As she digs deeper into the Searchers, Sharon joins their ranks in order to find out more-while someone is searching for her.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 1987
68 people are currently reading
660 people want to read
About the author
Marcia Muller
165 books725 followersMarcia Muller is an American author of mystery and thriller novels.
Muller has written many novels featuring her Sharon McCone female private detective character. Vanishing Point won the Shamus Award for Best P.I. Novel. Muller had been nominated for the Shamus Award four times previously.
In 2005, Muller was awarded the Mystery Writers of America's Grand Master award.
She was born in Detroit, Michigan, and grew up in Birmingham, Michigan, and graduated in English from the University of Michigan and worked as a journalist at Sunset magazine. She is married to detective fiction author Bill Pronzini with whom she has collaborated on several novels.
Muller has written many novels featuring her Sharon McCone female private detective character. Vanishing Point won the Shamus Award for Best P.I. Novel. Muller had been nominated for the Shamus Award four times previously.
In 2005, Muller was awarded the Mystery Writers of America's Grand Master award.
She was born in Detroit, Michigan, and grew up in Birmingham, Michigan, and graduated in English from the University of Michigan and worked as a journalist at Sunset magazine. She is married to detective fiction author Bill Pronzini with whom she has collaborated on several novels.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 179 reviews
November 30, 2021
In this 30th book in the 'Sharon McCone' series, the private detective investigates two cases. One involves satanic rituals, and the other is a kidnapping. The book can be read as a standalone, but familiarity with the characters is a plus.
*****
San Francisco private detective Sharon McCone is asked to look into the case of Camilla and Jay Givens. It seems Camilla has been frightened by odd occurrences, the latest being a satanic ritual and baby sacrifice she witnessed at an abandoned building site.
Sharon wonders if Camilla needs a psychiatrist more than a detective, but becomes concerned when she realizes that Camilla is frightened of her husband Jay.
Meanwhile Sharon's husband Hy Ripinsky, head of an international security firm, is negotiating with the kidnappers of Van Hoffman, a muckety-muck who works for a government think tank.
The kidnappers threaten to extract state secrets from Hoffman unless they're paid $45,000 - which happens to be the exact amount the Hoffmans have in their savings account.
When Sharon goes to investigate the 'satanic building site' she learns that her case seems to be connected to Hy's. It turns out that Jay Givens and Van Hoffman both belong to "The Night Searchers", a group of people that go on evening scavenger hunts. On these hunts they follow cryptic clues hidden all over the city to find a (supposedly) valuable prize.
When Hy has to leave the country for business Sharon is recruited to help with the Hoffman situation. She learns that kidnappee Hoffman is an arrogant guy who's disliked by his family and about to lose his job. Simultaneously, Sharon's investigation of the Givens case reveals that Camilla may not be nuts after all.
Sharon recruits her nephew Mick to help her infiltrate the Night Searchers, a group that seems to contain a lot of weirdos and misfits.
Some of Sharon's other relatives and the usual members of her detective agency also help with the investigation. In addition, Sharon is assisted by people in Hy's firm, and when she has to hide, makes use of one of Hy's safe houses.
Unfortunately the safe house is a defunct roach-infested motel with no electricity or water.
Sharon perseveres and eventually uncovers information that helps resolve both the Givens and Hoffman situations, a resolution that some readers may see coming in advance.
Part of the pleasure of this series is visiting with the familiar characters, many of whom are on hand in this book. In the current story, some changes have occurred in the lives of Sharon and Hy; they've moved into a lovely new home after Sharon's old house was burned to the ground, and they're considering merging their agencies. The couple also promise each other an exotic vacation when they complete their current cases - something they both need.
This is an engaging mystery that most fans of the series will enjoy.
You can follow my reviews at https://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot....
July 15, 2014
The latest Sharon McCone mystery is an combination story which results in a case requiring the assets and skills of both McCone and her husband Hy Ripinsky (as well as his security business). They have always carefully kept their business lives separate but this time the overlap is simply too great.
The case is odd. A young couple comes to Sharon because the wife has had some very unusual experiences of late and would like help in finding explanations for them. As part of the usual background, it's learned her husband belongs to a group of urban treasure hunters, The Night Searchers, a group with no real history. OK....there's a kidnapping too. Enough for plot details.
This is a quick and interesting read but I felt a sort of let down when it was over, a sadness almost. Is another of my constants simply not satisfying me any more? We shall see.
3.5*
The case is odd. A young couple comes to Sharon because the wife has had some very unusual experiences of late and would like help in finding explanations for them. As part of the usual background, it's learned her husband belongs to a group of urban treasure hunters, The Night Searchers, a group with no real history. OK....there's a kidnapping too. Enough for plot details.
This is a quick and interesting read but I felt a sort of let down when it was over, a sadness almost. Is another of my constants simply not satisfying me any more? We shall see.
3.5*
November 24, 2014
I’ve read every book in Marcia Muller’s Sharon McCone series since the first one was published in 1977. This is one of those series where I read each new book as soon as it comes out and then count down the months until it’s time for the next installment. Sharon McCone has always been one of my favorite literary characters. She’s super smart and one heck of private investigator. Funny, adventurous, down to earth, generous with her time; definitely someone you could kick back and have a beer with and someone I would want to know if she was a real person. Or at least that used to be her.
Okay, so what the happened to the real Sharon McCone? Where did she go and who is impersonating her, because I certainly couldn’t find much that sounded like Sharon in this latest book in the series. I gladly went along when Sharon left All Souls Legal Cooperative (and her office that was a closet under the stairs) and opened her own office. I was happy when she bought her little house on Church Street in San Francisco, and cheered when she met her match and soul mate in hostage negotiator Hy Ripinsky who she later married. These are all things that I expect someone to do as they grow and mature and become more experienced at their job. Sharon stayed the same person I had always known and loved, just older and wiser. But suddenly Sharon has become this person that I almost don’t even recognize. She and Hy have now bought a house on Avila Street in the Marina District in San Francisco. I checked prices on zillow.com to see how much a house the same size and on the same street sells for. They average between $2 and $4 million. Sharon also has a new car, a Mercedes SLK 350 Roadster. You can purchase the 2015 model for $57, 650. It’s not so much that Sharon and Hy have become extremely wealthy, although I think I would prefer if they weren’t so filthy stinkin’ rich. It’s that money and the power that has come with it have changed her. Take for example the fact that throughout the book both Sharon’s birth mother and adoptive mother have left numerous messages for her to call them, but she never seems to find any reason to call either of them back. One of Sharon’s sisters also asks her to talk to their mother about something that she would rather not discuss with her. Sharon will only do it if her sister gets her two tickets to a concert in Boulder Colorado, a room at a pricey hotel, and a reservation at a fancy restaurant. Sharon doesn’t call her mom though, she hands it off to another sister. Both of these things seem completely out of character for her and I’m not finding her very likable by this point. Add to this the way she now hardly spends any time with her employees like she used to, instead only interacting with them when she’s ordering them to do something. Oh Sharon, where did you go, and when are you coming back?
This book also suffers from a serious lack of editing. On page 13 Sharon talks to her friend lawyer Glenn Solomon about some new clients, Jay and Camilla Givens that he sent to her. He tells her that Jay’s father Roy was a good friend of his that died on the golf course at Pebble Beach last August. Later, on page 44, Sharon’s nephew Mick gives Sharon the background check on the Givenses. He tells her that Jay Givens father died when Jay was thirteen and Jay was put into foster care at that time. Okay, that’s goof number one. Number two starts on page 196 when an associate of Jay Givens named David Turnbull is mentioned in three places on that page. The next time he’s mentioned is on page 235, but now he’s Jordan Turnbull. Seriously? It’s only 39 pages later and the editor hasn’t caught this name change? Marcia Muller really needs a better editor than the person who did this hack job. Okay, time for goof number three. Sharon is working a job for Jay and Camilla Givens while her husband Hy Ripinsky is working a job trying to locate a kidnapped executive named Van Hoffman. Mick does some digging on Jay Givens and finds out he likes to participate in this Urban Adventure/Treasure Hunting Game with a group called The Night Searchers. A few chapters later Mick and Sharon are talking about the Night Searchers and how Jay Givens and Van Hoffman are both members. Say what? Since when is Van Hoffman a member? Nowhere before did either of them ever mention that Van Hoffman had any connection to the group, but now they’re talking like this was something they’ve discussed at length before. And how unbelievably coincidental is it that Sharon and Hy are working on cases at the same time that, big surprise, have a connection to each other? The odds of that happening are probably pretty slim.
Has Marcia Muller gone the way of James Patterson? Is someone else writing the Sharon McCone series now? Does Marcia Muller need to take a break or a vacation to get herself back in touch with who Sharon McCone is? For sure she certainly needs to find a new editor because this one failed miserably.
Okay, so what the happened to the real Sharon McCone? Where did she go and who is impersonating her, because I certainly couldn’t find much that sounded like Sharon in this latest book in the series. I gladly went along when Sharon left All Souls Legal Cooperative (and her office that was a closet under the stairs) and opened her own office. I was happy when she bought her little house on Church Street in San Francisco, and cheered when she met her match and soul mate in hostage negotiator Hy Ripinsky who she later married. These are all things that I expect someone to do as they grow and mature and become more experienced at their job. Sharon stayed the same person I had always known and loved, just older and wiser. But suddenly Sharon has become this person that I almost don’t even recognize. She and Hy have now bought a house on Avila Street in the Marina District in San Francisco. I checked prices on zillow.com to see how much a house the same size and on the same street sells for. They average between $2 and $4 million. Sharon also has a new car, a Mercedes SLK 350 Roadster. You can purchase the 2015 model for $57, 650. It’s not so much that Sharon and Hy have become extremely wealthy, although I think I would prefer if they weren’t so filthy stinkin’ rich. It’s that money and the power that has come with it have changed her. Take for example the fact that throughout the book both Sharon’s birth mother and adoptive mother have left numerous messages for her to call them, but she never seems to find any reason to call either of them back. One of Sharon’s sisters also asks her to talk to their mother about something that she would rather not discuss with her. Sharon will only do it if her sister gets her two tickets to a concert in Boulder Colorado, a room at a pricey hotel, and a reservation at a fancy restaurant. Sharon doesn’t call her mom though, she hands it off to another sister. Both of these things seem completely out of character for her and I’m not finding her very likable by this point. Add to this the way she now hardly spends any time with her employees like she used to, instead only interacting with them when she’s ordering them to do something. Oh Sharon, where did you go, and when are you coming back?
This book also suffers from a serious lack of editing. On page 13 Sharon talks to her friend lawyer Glenn Solomon about some new clients, Jay and Camilla Givens that he sent to her. He tells her that Jay’s father Roy was a good friend of his that died on the golf course at Pebble Beach last August. Later, on page 44, Sharon’s nephew Mick gives Sharon the background check on the Givenses. He tells her that Jay Givens father died when Jay was thirteen and Jay was put into foster care at that time. Okay, that’s goof number one. Number two starts on page 196 when an associate of Jay Givens named David Turnbull is mentioned in three places on that page. The next time he’s mentioned is on page 235, but now he’s Jordan Turnbull. Seriously? It’s only 39 pages later and the editor hasn’t caught this name change? Marcia Muller really needs a better editor than the person who did this hack job. Okay, time for goof number three. Sharon is working a job for Jay and Camilla Givens while her husband Hy Ripinsky is working a job trying to locate a kidnapped executive named Van Hoffman. Mick does some digging on Jay Givens and finds out he likes to participate in this Urban Adventure/Treasure Hunting Game with a group called The Night Searchers. A few chapters later Mick and Sharon are talking about the Night Searchers and how Jay Givens and Van Hoffman are both members. Say what? Since when is Van Hoffman a member? Nowhere before did either of them ever mention that Van Hoffman had any connection to the group, but now they’re talking like this was something they’ve discussed at length before. And how unbelievably coincidental is it that Sharon and Hy are working on cases at the same time that, big surprise, have a connection to each other? The odds of that happening are probably pretty slim.
Has Marcia Muller gone the way of James Patterson? Is someone else writing the Sharon McCone series now? Does Marcia Muller need to take a break or a vacation to get herself back in touch with who Sharon McCone is? For sure she certainly needs to find a new editor because this one failed miserably.
July 31, 2014
Not as good as Muller's previous volumes. I've been a Sharon McCone fan for a long time and generally look forward to each new release.
Interestingly, most of McCone's investigations - at least since she's been on her own - have involved ties to her own family, firm or self. For instance, she investigates her own past, a pretender, and a "running man" who's blowing up her husband's security firm. Of course she has a lot of high-paying clients, but they tend to run in the background, with her staff doing the legwork.
This time McCone investigates a case referred by her attorney, Glenn Solomon. A woman hears strange things. Since this is a mystery, experienced readers will guess what's going on. The clients aren't very appealing and Sharon's usual supporting cast makes fewer appearances. She seems less involved and often the reading was tedious.
Usually after a new McCone I go back and reread parts of the book, realizing the next one won't be ready right away. This one didn't hold my interest; I skimmed through and returned it to the library right away.
Interestingly, most of McCone's investigations - at least since she's been on her own - have involved ties to her own family, firm or self. For instance, she investigates her own past, a pretender, and a "running man" who's blowing up her husband's security firm. Of course she has a lot of high-paying clients, but they tend to run in the background, with her staff doing the legwork.
This time McCone investigates a case referred by her attorney, Glenn Solomon. A woman hears strange things. Since this is a mystery, experienced readers will guess what's going on. The clients aren't very appealing and Sharon's usual supporting cast makes fewer appearances. She seems less involved and often the reading was tedious.
Usually after a new McCone I go back and reread parts of the book, realizing the next one won't be ready right away. This one didn't hold my interest; I skimmed through and returned it to the library right away.
February 17, 2018
As near as I can figure, I discovered and began reading Muller's mysteries about 2005. This is #30 of the Sharon McCone series, and I've read all of them through the years. Some are excellent, some not as good. But it's like checking in with an old friend to see what's going on with them. Part of my enjoyment of these books is that they are mostly set in San Francisco and Northern California. I lived in the area for thirteen plus years; so I can picture the places where the action takes place. I think maybe I won't read anymore of Muller's books unless she comes up with another protagonist. I will continue to read her husband's books. Bill Pronzini writes mysteries, also, and I think he is a better writer. I do recommend both of these authors for an interesting mystery and an easy read.
May 8, 2017
Someone is trying to drive Sharon McCone’s client insane and McCone is hired to learn how and why! The Night Searchers is exciting and suspenseful. Laura Hick’s storytelling telling was good once she got a handle on making the men voices sound like men’s voices.
September 30, 2014
I don’t normally subscribe to the Marxist camp of literary theory, but this mystery novel grated on my sensibilities until finally, after I finished it, the grating turned into a salient realization:
The Night Searchers is a screed, beckoning the top 10 percent to piss on the bottom 10 percent. The wealthy to lord their wealth and privilege over the poor. Not the super-wealthy, just the normal-wealthy.
I realize this is a vulgar thing to write, but it is an unfortunately true approximation of the book, its themes, its characters, its setting, etc.
We have Mrs. Sharon McCone, private detective, living in San Francisco and married to a man who runs some sort of similar agency.
Both are filthy, stinking rich. Multiple houses in multiple locations. Fancy sports cars. One house in San Francisco, with its bloated rents pushed higher by the likes of McCone. Two other houses, sitting unused, unneeded by them. They have the privilege to waste. (The reader, I suppose, is supposed to laude these marks of the main character’s wealth.)
(At this point in the review, I will cop to my dislike for very wealthy characters and the presentation of such. I find it to be unnecessary and the characters, more often than not, to be unlikeable or less likeable because of it. This excludes the escapades of aristocracy in novels of yore.)
I will also now express my discontent with the printing of the book: huge one-and-a-half spaced print does not justify this book’s 290 pages, with blanks for each new day. It’s longer than a novella, but not by terribly much. I’m frankly impressed at the publisher’s ability to string it out over so many pages.
The other major flaw (before we get any further) is the entire plotline and the plot device used to make it all go round. Part of that device is pissing on the poor and part of it entirely broke my suspension of disbelief.
An urban adventurers organization is up to no good. (Run around the city, looking for clues to find a prize one of your fellow companions has hidden and written the clues for. Like a clue-heavy geocaching. They’re dangerous!)
Here’s a “psychologist” character talking about the “urban adventure” group to McCone. McCone replies.
“I don’t think you should underestimate the dangers presented by this . . . well, I hate to use the term cult, but essentially that’s what they are. Mixtures of various types of personalities, some dominant, some weak; some worldly, some naïve; some control freaks, some victims.”
“We’ve all seen the damage those combinations can do: the Manson Family, the People’s Temple, the Mormon separatists.”
“Yes, and if some factor disturbs the mix, tips the scales, it can lead to serious trouble. If I were you, Ms. McCone, I’d be very careful in your dealings with this group.”
She what she did? She set up the geocaching group to be the equivalent of cult-of-personality based murder-centric groups. Honestly, I don’t see why Ms. Muller, the author, didn’t throw the Nazis into the mix, or maybe the savages from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
When I think geocaching, or “urban adventure groups” I think “murderous fun.” Let’s also just ignore the fact that any and every group attracts all kinds of personalities. Just ignore it.
Worthy of your disdain
Please, let us dive deeper into the origins, the place, the class, the characters who make up this group, the collective villain of the novel. These low-lifes lead boring, pointless lives filled with monotony, usually done in boring service jobs.
(This is in contrast to McCone’s life of leisure mixed with professional adventure and para-police activities, all wrapped in a cushioning of ownership and domination over employees.)
The group’s most welcoming member has a single claim to fame: she believes (as do others) her father was abducted when she was a child. This belief (proven to be unfounded) is a great mocking-point for the main character, McCone, and by extension the reader. This poor woman is miserable and pathetic and believes in things we, the educated elite, could not possibly believe, because we know better (a consequence of the opportunities afforded us.)
Marlene Daniels, the group’s leader, she’s born in a home for unwed mothers, given up for adoption, lives her life in the foster care system and runs away from the final foster home at 16. Then, she’s a “street person,” when she “hooks up with” another member of the group, Zeronsky.
McCone exercises her para-police abilities (which we would cringe at if they appeared in the newspaper, both horrified and impressed at the willingness of the wealthy to use their power to physically control, harass, dominate the poor) to have Zeronsky, aka Zero, brought to her. Physically brought, against her will.
“’A lot of nerve you’ve got,’ she said in a deep-South drawl, ‘sending this ape to manhandle me.’ As she spoke, she reveleaed crooked, yellow teeth.
“This ape.
“Not only was she physically deformed, she was also a racist.”
McCone uses her own excuse of being hit on the head as a reason for the blatant kidnapping.
While I don’t agree with the term the character Zero uses to describe the man who kidnapped her and brought her to the very-rich para-police captor, please notice how she sets up that this is a racist remark: “deep-South drawl,” “crooked, yellow teeth.”
Obviously because she’s from the south, she has to be racist, and have bad teeth. It’s not like she’s been kidnapped by a rich private detective or anything.
Later on, we’re supposed to feel good about McCone making sure Zero may not leave the premises.
“Zero wasn’t going any place. To ensure that, I’d ordered a twenty-four hour guard on her house.”
At this point, we should all want this rich vigilante locked up.
Zeronsky. He’s on track for a PhD (philosophy) and drops out.
“’Now he works for a carpet installer and his old lady’s a clerk at Kinkos. No criminal record on either. They’re married, have no kids.’”
“’And both have boring jobs. Good candidates for the Night Searchers.’”
Please allow a little unpacking: Zeronsky ostensibly belongs to the main characters class. Educated, part of the elite, moving toward a respect society job of professor or something else that’ll hire a PhD. But he’s dropped out and he’s joined the adventure club.
The author has her character use the term “old lady” to refer to Zeronsky’s wife, a term often used in and associated with motorcycle clubs, and outlaw motorcycle gangs. This club, she implies, it’s like the Hell’s Angels. Selling dope, raping across the country, trafficking guns.
Both have service industry jobs, doing work that services those in the main character’s (and therefore, you, the reader’s,) class in expensive San Francisco.
Notice, too, the condescension from the main character. “boring jobs” making them good candidates for a murder-for-hire-and-fun group.
The author chose he words carefully to match with her theme. These people, these underclasslings who serve us, the elite, their entertainment is not enough. We, you the dear reader, me, the author, we have taken away the gladiatorial blood sport these service industry workers need.
Next up, Grizeldy, whom we get to know a little. She’s the abduction lady. Works at an insurance company, the same one, for 20 years, the same one she was “placed” at following her training.
Her job stability is to be disdained. It makes her want to join the urban adventure murderers group, in addition to making her boring.
“’Anything about her besides having held the same job forever, that uniquely qualifies her for the group?’”
Then we get the alien shtick.
Mick, filthy-rich nephew, describes how she, Grizeldy, claimed the dad was abducted. Ten years later, he gets arrested for serial bigamy. She sticks by the adduction story.
“’God. Another perfect candidate.’” The people whom the main character is researching in a rather unflattering and invasive way, well, they’re beneath her teenager-hates-her-parents disdain. “God,” she says. “Another perfect candidate,” she says, to join an urban adventure and murder-for-hire group. She’s both worrisome and pathetic.
We go through even more characters. The point is, the one thing of value to Grizeldy is a plaque commemorating her father’s not-really-an-abduction-abduction. It’s important to her. When the main character, McCone finds it, it’s another reason to hold the lowly serf in high contempt. That and the condition of her house. (Mind you, it’s not like she can afford a maid and, really, she shouldn’t be taking up space rich, educated elite people could be taking up.)
“How could this plaque be Grizeldy’s ‘grand prize’? (sic) It was too damned insignificant . . . and yet witnessing the so-called abduction had been one event in her life what made her someone of importance. Again, I thought of what she’d told me in the car the night before she died: … a plain, little, ordinary woman. Living a plain, little, ordinary life.”
If you, dear reader, are ready a plain, little, or ordinary life: you are worthy of all of our collective contempt. Just FYI.
Worthy of your envy
Her nephew, Mick Savage, and his buddy, Derek Ford, they’re geniuses. They sold their search engine to a giant company and a more state-of-the-art version of the aforementioned engine was going to go public in months.
He, too, is filthy stinking rich. And in case you didn’t know, let’s talk about that for a few more pages.
The hubby? High-powered hostage negotiator.
“Hy was known as the best negotiator in his field, but some of those types of tricky confrontations ended in bloodshed.”
No, no normal husband here. They’re a power couple.
Now we get to talk about her car.
“I paused to admire my new car before I got in. When my BMW Z4—sold to me by Rae, since Ricky insisted on buying her a new car every year on her birthday—was destroyed in the house fire, I’d been devastated. For years I’d driven and loved an old MG I’d owned since college, but I’d loved the Z4 even more. For awhile I drove rentals, and then Hy surprised me with a Mercedes SLK 350 roadster. Red, with a removable hardtop and a black ragtop.”
It’s not just her who’s rich, its her husband, her friend and her friend’s husband. And all this wealth, and all this privilege, keeps on circling back to them, and has to be pointed out to us, the poor reader, time and time again. I’m not sure why we must be told page after page of how filthy rich the main character is. We get it. She’s rich, she’s white, she lives in San Francisco and uses her privilege. We get it.
I think, dear reader, you get it by now. The rich should ever keep their feet on the throats of all those below them. We should allow them to do use by granting them the right to point guns at people, kidnap people, etc. The rich must always be allowed to assert their dominance over the poor, for it is their birthright.
This book was received, free of charge, from the Goodreads First Reads program.
The Night Searchers is a screed, beckoning the top 10 percent to piss on the bottom 10 percent. The wealthy to lord their wealth and privilege over the poor. Not the super-wealthy, just the normal-wealthy.
I realize this is a vulgar thing to write, but it is an unfortunately true approximation of the book, its themes, its characters, its setting, etc.
We have Mrs. Sharon McCone, private detective, living in San Francisco and married to a man who runs some sort of similar agency.
Both are filthy, stinking rich. Multiple houses in multiple locations. Fancy sports cars. One house in San Francisco, with its bloated rents pushed higher by the likes of McCone. Two other houses, sitting unused, unneeded by them. They have the privilege to waste. (The reader, I suppose, is supposed to laude these marks of the main character’s wealth.)
(At this point in the review, I will cop to my dislike for very wealthy characters and the presentation of such. I find it to be unnecessary and the characters, more often than not, to be unlikeable or less likeable because of it. This excludes the escapades of aristocracy in novels of yore.)
I will also now express my discontent with the printing of the book: huge one-and-a-half spaced print does not justify this book’s 290 pages, with blanks for each new day. It’s longer than a novella, but not by terribly much. I’m frankly impressed at the publisher’s ability to string it out over so many pages.
The other major flaw (before we get any further) is the entire plotline and the plot device used to make it all go round. Part of that device is pissing on the poor and part of it entirely broke my suspension of disbelief.
An urban adventurers organization is up to no good. (Run around the city, looking for clues to find a prize one of your fellow companions has hidden and written the clues for. Like a clue-heavy geocaching. They’re dangerous!)
Here’s a “psychologist” character talking about the “urban adventure” group to McCone. McCone replies.
“I don’t think you should underestimate the dangers presented by this . . . well, I hate to use the term cult, but essentially that’s what they are. Mixtures of various types of personalities, some dominant, some weak; some worldly, some naïve; some control freaks, some victims.”
“We’ve all seen the damage those combinations can do: the Manson Family, the People’s Temple, the Mormon separatists.”
“Yes, and if some factor disturbs the mix, tips the scales, it can lead to serious trouble. If I were you, Ms. McCone, I’d be very careful in your dealings with this group.”
She what she did? She set up the geocaching group to be the equivalent of cult-of-personality based murder-centric groups. Honestly, I don’t see why Ms. Muller, the author, didn’t throw the Nazis into the mix, or maybe the savages from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
When I think geocaching, or “urban adventure groups” I think “murderous fun.” Let’s also just ignore the fact that any and every group attracts all kinds of personalities. Just ignore it.
Worthy of your disdain
Please, let us dive deeper into the origins, the place, the class, the characters who make up this group, the collective villain of the novel. These low-lifes lead boring, pointless lives filled with monotony, usually done in boring service jobs.
(This is in contrast to McCone’s life of leisure mixed with professional adventure and para-police activities, all wrapped in a cushioning of ownership and domination over employees.)
The group’s most welcoming member has a single claim to fame: she believes (as do others) her father was abducted when she was a child. This belief (proven to be unfounded) is a great mocking-point for the main character, McCone, and by extension the reader. This poor woman is miserable and pathetic and believes in things we, the educated elite, could not possibly believe, because we know better (a consequence of the opportunities afforded us.)
Marlene Daniels, the group’s leader, she’s born in a home for unwed mothers, given up for adoption, lives her life in the foster care system and runs away from the final foster home at 16. Then, she’s a “street person,” when she “hooks up with” another member of the group, Zeronsky.
McCone exercises her para-police abilities (which we would cringe at if they appeared in the newspaper, both horrified and impressed at the willingness of the wealthy to use their power to physically control, harass, dominate the poor) to have Zeronsky, aka Zero, brought to her. Physically brought, against her will.
“’A lot of nerve you’ve got,’ she said in a deep-South drawl, ‘sending this ape to manhandle me.’ As she spoke, she reveleaed crooked, yellow teeth.
“This ape.
“Not only was she physically deformed, she was also a racist.”
McCone uses her own excuse of being hit on the head as a reason for the blatant kidnapping.
While I don’t agree with the term the character Zero uses to describe the man who kidnapped her and brought her to the very-rich para-police captor, please notice how she sets up that this is a racist remark: “deep-South drawl,” “crooked, yellow teeth.”
Obviously because she’s from the south, she has to be racist, and have bad teeth. It’s not like she’s been kidnapped by a rich private detective or anything.
Later on, we’re supposed to feel good about McCone making sure Zero may not leave the premises.
“Zero wasn’t going any place. To ensure that, I’d ordered a twenty-four hour guard on her house.”
At this point, we should all want this rich vigilante locked up.
Zeronsky. He’s on track for a PhD (philosophy) and drops out.
“’Now he works for a carpet installer and his old lady’s a clerk at Kinkos. No criminal record on either. They’re married, have no kids.’”
“’And both have boring jobs. Good candidates for the Night Searchers.’”
Please allow a little unpacking: Zeronsky ostensibly belongs to the main characters class. Educated, part of the elite, moving toward a respect society job of professor or something else that’ll hire a PhD. But he’s dropped out and he’s joined the adventure club.
The author has her character use the term “old lady” to refer to Zeronsky’s wife, a term often used in and associated with motorcycle clubs, and outlaw motorcycle gangs. This club, she implies, it’s like the Hell’s Angels. Selling dope, raping across the country, trafficking guns.
Both have service industry jobs, doing work that services those in the main character’s (and therefore, you, the reader’s,) class in expensive San Francisco.
Notice, too, the condescension from the main character. “boring jobs” making them good candidates for a murder-for-hire-and-fun group.
The author chose he words carefully to match with her theme. These people, these underclasslings who serve us, the elite, their entertainment is not enough. We, you the dear reader, me, the author, we have taken away the gladiatorial blood sport these service industry workers need.
Next up, Grizeldy, whom we get to know a little. She’s the abduction lady. Works at an insurance company, the same one, for 20 years, the same one she was “placed” at following her training.
Her job stability is to be disdained. It makes her want to join the urban adventure murderers group, in addition to making her boring.
“’Anything about her besides having held the same job forever, that uniquely qualifies her for the group?’”
Then we get the alien shtick.
Mick, filthy-rich nephew, describes how she, Grizeldy, claimed the dad was abducted. Ten years later, he gets arrested for serial bigamy. She sticks by the adduction story.
“’God. Another perfect candidate.’” The people whom the main character is researching in a rather unflattering and invasive way, well, they’re beneath her teenager-hates-her-parents disdain. “God,” she says. “Another perfect candidate,” she says, to join an urban adventure and murder-for-hire group. She’s both worrisome and pathetic.
We go through even more characters. The point is, the one thing of value to Grizeldy is a plaque commemorating her father’s not-really-an-abduction-abduction. It’s important to her. When the main character, McCone finds it, it’s another reason to hold the lowly serf in high contempt. That and the condition of her house. (Mind you, it’s not like she can afford a maid and, really, she shouldn’t be taking up space rich, educated elite people could be taking up.)
“How could this plaque be Grizeldy’s ‘grand prize’? (sic) It was too damned insignificant . . . and yet witnessing the so-called abduction had been one event in her life what made her someone of importance. Again, I thought of what she’d told me in the car the night before she died: … a plain, little, ordinary woman. Living a plain, little, ordinary life.”
If you, dear reader, are ready a plain, little, or ordinary life: you are worthy of all of our collective contempt. Just FYI.
Worthy of your envy
Her nephew, Mick Savage, and his buddy, Derek Ford, they’re geniuses. They sold their search engine to a giant company and a more state-of-the-art version of the aforementioned engine was going to go public in months.
He, too, is filthy stinking rich. And in case you didn’t know, let’s talk about that for a few more pages.
The hubby? High-powered hostage negotiator.
“Hy was known as the best negotiator in his field, but some of those types of tricky confrontations ended in bloodshed.”
No, no normal husband here. They’re a power couple.
Now we get to talk about her car.
“I paused to admire my new car before I got in. When my BMW Z4—sold to me by Rae, since Ricky insisted on buying her a new car every year on her birthday—was destroyed in the house fire, I’d been devastated. For years I’d driven and loved an old MG I’d owned since college, but I’d loved the Z4 even more. For awhile I drove rentals, and then Hy surprised me with a Mercedes SLK 350 roadster. Red, with a removable hardtop and a black ragtop.”
It’s not just her who’s rich, its her husband, her friend and her friend’s husband. And all this wealth, and all this privilege, keeps on circling back to them, and has to be pointed out to us, the poor reader, time and time again. I’m not sure why we must be told page after page of how filthy rich the main character is. We get it. She’s rich, she’s white, she lives in San Francisco and uses her privilege. We get it.
I think, dear reader, you get it by now. The rich should ever keep their feet on the throats of all those below them. We should allow them to do use by granting them the right to point guns at people, kidnap people, etc. The rich must always be allowed to assert their dominance over the poor, for it is their birthright.
This book was received, free of charge, from the Goodreads First Reads program.
July 23, 2016
My daughter starts college next month, with her goal to one day be an editor. Perhaps that makes me more aware of editing problems. Lately half the books I read have serious issues a good editor should have caught. This is one of those books. One character changes names, another has 2 conflicting stories on how & when his father died. which seriously impacts how this character came to be connected in the story line... do editors even read the books they edit anymore?
Otherwise the book was ok. Not great, but the basic story line was pretty good. I've been reading a few female PI series consistently over the last 20 years. Kinsey Millhone, VI Warshawski, & Sharon McCune. So much time elapses between book releases that it sometimes takes me a few chapters to remember which character this one is, the 3 women are fairly similar in many ways. I appreciated the first chapter of this book, it helped refresh my memory.
Otherwise the book was ok. Not great, but the basic story line was pretty good. I've been reading a few female PI series consistently over the last 20 years. Kinsey Millhone, VI Warshawski, & Sharon McCune. So much time elapses between book releases that it sometimes takes me a few chapters to remember which character this one is, the 3 women are fairly similar in many ways. I appreciated the first chapter of this book, it helped refresh my memory.
January 21, 2015
I've always enjoyed the Sharon McCone series, in no small part due to the way she weaves her knowledge of San Francisco in to the stories. This mystery is no exception in which a group of urban treasure hunters
leave clues in well known and obscure points around the city. As a bonus there is another good reason not to smoke buried in the plot!
leave clues in well known and obscure points around the city. As a bonus there is another good reason not to smoke buried in the plot!
April 18, 2022
3.5 atars
July 29, 2022
A conventional denouement wrapped up in sensational (satanic rituals) and sometimes goofy (the whole Night Searchers thing) trappings. Fine, kept me entertained, but a meh entry in the series.
May 5, 2015
Sharon McCone is not at her best, or sharpest, in the 29th book in the series, which started back in the 70's in a Victorian house in San Fran. In the Night Searchers, she undertakes two peculiar cases, that are sort of interrelated. The first is brought to her by an attorney who introduces Sharon to Jay and Camilla Givens. The other is handed over to her by her husband, who operates a separate security agency, when he is called overseas on a secret mission. This one involves a kidnapping of one of his clients.
It appears that Camilla “sees” devil worshipers performing human sacrifices in an undeveloped area in San Francisco. Meanwhile, Sharon learns that both Jay and the kidnapping victim are involved in a group that partakes in night forays, following clues, hunting treasure and, apparently, performing weird acts. Just how all these factors add up to Sharon solving both cases is the basis for a wide-ranging story.
While the plot is worthy of note, it is complicated and somewhat loosely written and disjointed. The author does keep Sharon and her husband, Hy Ripinski, fresh and up to date, continuing their development as characters in this long-running series. This isn't the best im the series, but it will keep your interest going.
It appears that Camilla “sees” devil worshipers performing human sacrifices in an undeveloped area in San Francisco. Meanwhile, Sharon learns that both Jay and the kidnapping victim are involved in a group that partakes in night forays, following clues, hunting treasure and, apparently, performing weird acts. Just how all these factors add up to Sharon solving both cases is the basis for a wide-ranging story.
While the plot is worthy of note, it is complicated and somewhat loosely written and disjointed. The author does keep Sharon and her husband, Hy Ripinski, fresh and up to date, continuing their development as characters in this long-running series. This isn't the best im the series, but it will keep your interest going.
February 4, 2015
Sharon McCone undertakes two peculiar cases, sort of interrelated. The first is brought to her by an attorney who introduces Sharon to Jay and Camilla Givens. The other is handed over to her by her husband, who operates a separate security agency, when he is called overseas on a secret mission. This one involves a kidnapping of one of his clients.
It appears that Camilla “sees” devil worshipers performing human sacrifices in an undeveloped area in San Francisco. Meanwhile, Sharon learns that both Jay and the kidnapping victim are involved in a group that partakes in night forays, following clues, hunting treasure and, apparently, performing weird acts. Just how all these factors add up to Sharon solving both cases is the basis for a wide-ranging story.
While the plot is worthy of note, it is complicated and somewhat loosely written and disjointed. The author does keep Sharon and her husband, Hy Ripinski, fresh and up to date, continuing their development as characters in this long-running series, and it is recommended.
It appears that Camilla “sees” devil worshipers performing human sacrifices in an undeveloped area in San Francisco. Meanwhile, Sharon learns that both Jay and the kidnapping victim are involved in a group that partakes in night forays, following clues, hunting treasure and, apparently, performing weird acts. Just how all these factors add up to Sharon solving both cases is the basis for a wide-ranging story.
While the plot is worthy of note, it is complicated and somewhat loosely written and disjointed. The author does keep Sharon and her husband, Hy Ripinski, fresh and up to date, continuing their development as characters in this long-running series, and it is recommended.
July 21, 2014
I have always enjoyed the Sharon McCone mysteries by Marcia Muller. In the many years she has written these books, she has shown Sharon's progression as a professional investigator and as a woman. Along the way, Sharon has met her husband, Hy Ripinsky, discovered that she was adopted and found her birth parents, suffered locked-in syndrome after being shot and many other traumas and victories. In this installment, she and Hy are trying to decide whether to merge their two agencies into one big company when her attorney/friend asks her to investigate the claims that a young woman has witnessed strange and disturbing acts by a group called the Night Searchers. As Sharon delves into the case, the circumstances intersect with one of Hy's cases and the two end up working together again. This is a very enjoyable volume in the series.
August 10, 2014
I have never warmed up to Muller's series featuring Sharon McCone. And here I felt the author came perilously close to casting McCone into victimhood. And that just reflects too closely the hackneyed and wrong roles created by male mystery writers for woman. And it's hard not to see each time she gets clobbered coming. In addition, the "think tank" consulting company she creates here is not believable. There's riffing off institutional and government stupidity, and there's beggaring a reader's belief. Muller does the latter here.
I think this is probably closer to two and a half stars than three. But I got to spend some time back in my beloved home, San Francisco and that's worth at least half a star.
July 31, 2014
I liked it, because I like these characters and Muller is a good writer, but I thought the plot was a bit thin. Had to use pretty large type to make not quite 300 pages. Drag all the usual characters in for a cameo so we don't forget who they are. Cast some suspicion where it doesn't make much sense. Seems like it was a stopgap between books when things really advance.
March 19, 2015
I quite enjoyed reading The Night Searchers. I believe I might have enjoyed it more had this not been my 1st Sharon McCone mystery. Sharon gets a couple of clients with a rather odd story finds the husband is affiliated with a strange group, The Night Searchers, I got really involved in this book. An interesting story line.
July 14, 2014
Night-Searchers are mean-spirited urban treasure hunters. Sharon McCone comes into this cult by way of a reference. With careful plotting McCone and her associates save the story line. Stephanie Plum and her cohorts are sassier.
May 17, 2015
And another long-time favorite series circles the drain...
August 8, 2021
This was a hard book to get through at times. Thankfully it had a lot of dialogue. The plot was weak and there were some pretty serious plot holes/mistakes that made me question what was happening.
July 11, 2018
Great book, kept me on my toes the whole time, very long in some situations but other than that a great ending and something i would have never guessed till finding out in the end
January 31, 2020
I enjoyed this return to Sharon McCone’s world.
August 16, 2014
It’s March when the husband and wife first meet private detective Sharon McCone in her San Francisco office. Young and seemingly doing okay financially speaking the young couple owns a condo in one of the better local areas known as Russian Hill. While Jay Givens is sure his wife Camilla thinks she saw something he is also sure that it is all in her head. Camilla insists that it happened and while Sharon may agree with the husband’s assessment she does not like his attitude or his behavior.
Camilla says that she was walking the neighborhood one evening just after seven pm and as she passed a vacant lot she witnessed some people clustered under a large and no doubt expensive patio type umbrella. They had a portable fireplace which was lit and going in great gusto. She heard the cry of a baby and believes they were about to sacrifice an infant as she thinks they were devil worshippers.
Sharon McCone is reluctant to take the case as she believes the woman is far more in need of a good psychiatrist than a private detective. But, they were returned to her by her lawyer friend Ben Solomon who is aware of other incidents in recent months. Ben thinks there is something to what Camilla claims though he has no real reason to believe that other than a feeling. Before long Sharon gets the same sense. As she starts investigating further she learns of a shadowy group known as “The Night Searchers” who are playing a very specialized game of geocaching. The husband, Jay Givens, is involved with them and what that means, if anything, regarding Camilla and another case being worked by Hy Rapinsky, Sharon’s husband, is unclear. But, something is going on and before long Sharon is in a world of trouble with no much to go on.
The latest in the series that began with Edwin of the Iron Shoes is another good one. While character development is very limited and primarily focused on Sharon moving on after recent events in the series, one does not expect radical change for no reason for the long established character. Fortunately these days Sharon has a lot of resources in various areas to call on when she needs help and that allows various secondary characters long familiar to series readers to be more involved in this one than normal. The book flows well and moves forward rapidly making The Night Searchers: A Sharon McCone Mystery another good read from award winning author Marcia Muller.
The Night Searchers: A Sharon McCone Mystery
Marcia Muller
http://www.marciamuller.com
Grand Central Publishing (division of Hachette Book Group)
http://www.hachettebookgroup.com
July 2014
ISBN# 978-1-4555-2793-9
Hardback (also available in e-book and audio forms)
295 Pages
$26.00
Material supplied by the good folks of the Plano Texas Public Library System.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2014
Camilla says that she was walking the neighborhood one evening just after seven pm and as she passed a vacant lot she witnessed some people clustered under a large and no doubt expensive patio type umbrella. They had a portable fireplace which was lit and going in great gusto. She heard the cry of a baby and believes they were about to sacrifice an infant as she thinks they were devil worshippers.
Sharon McCone is reluctant to take the case as she believes the woman is far more in need of a good psychiatrist than a private detective. But, they were returned to her by her lawyer friend Ben Solomon who is aware of other incidents in recent months. Ben thinks there is something to what Camilla claims though he has no real reason to believe that other than a feeling. Before long Sharon gets the same sense. As she starts investigating further she learns of a shadowy group known as “The Night Searchers” who are playing a very specialized game of geocaching. The husband, Jay Givens, is involved with them and what that means, if anything, regarding Camilla and another case being worked by Hy Rapinsky, Sharon’s husband, is unclear. But, something is going on and before long Sharon is in a world of trouble with no much to go on.
The latest in the series that began with Edwin of the Iron Shoes is another good one. While character development is very limited and primarily focused on Sharon moving on after recent events in the series, one does not expect radical change for no reason for the long established character. Fortunately these days Sharon has a lot of resources in various areas to call on when she needs help and that allows various secondary characters long familiar to series readers to be more involved in this one than normal. The book flows well and moves forward rapidly making The Night Searchers: A Sharon McCone Mystery another good read from award winning author Marcia Muller.
The Night Searchers: A Sharon McCone Mystery
Marcia Muller
http://www.marciamuller.com
Grand Central Publishing (division of Hachette Book Group)
http://www.hachettebookgroup.com
July 2014
ISBN# 978-1-4555-2793-9
Hardback (also available in e-book and audio forms)
295 Pages
$26.00
Material supplied by the good folks of the Plano Texas Public Library System.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2014
March 27, 2017
content warning: gas lighting, drugging
This series has been fantastic to read (I think I missed 4 or so that weren't available to me), spanning from the late 1970s until present day. While the technologies used evolve over time, the early books don’t feel dated, as basic research and investigation remain strong throughout.
I enjoyed the intrigue of this book, the thought of urban treasure hunts seems like a neat idea (with a definite possibility to go awry in the hands of leaders bent on malfeasance).
This series has been fantastic to read (I think I missed 4 or so that weren't available to me), spanning from the late 1970s until present day. While the technologies used evolve over time, the early books don’t feel dated, as basic research and investigation remain strong throughout.
I enjoyed the intrigue of this book, the thought of urban treasure hunts seems like a neat idea (with a definite possibility to go awry in the hands of leaders bent on malfeasance).
July 24, 2014
Seems I keep forgetting that I have decided I don't like her books. I read a good review for this and of course I put in at the library for it. The whole organization is too too ?? I can't put my finger on it but I don't like it. This plot is not that plausible. Many of the authors I like have serial novels with the same characters and I don't mind knowing how the dialogue is going to go and how predictable it is, but for some reason I don't care for this one.
October 2, 2017
I love Muller's Sharon McCone series. Muller is one of those rare writers who actually got better over the years as her series progressed. But in this book, Muller seems a little tired. The plot is interesting, but the clients/victims are not--too off-the-wall crazy for me. And there seems to be a lot of unnecessary repetition, as if Muller was adding fill to make her word count. Still a fun read, as always with Muller. Recommended.
August 24, 2017
This was not my favorite of Marcia Muller's series! In fact, I had a rather tough time making myself keep reading. As the title indicates, Sharon McCone and a bunch somewhat strange people were playing a night game, a treasure hunt of sorts. Even though I was "tied" to a sick bed with nothing much to do but read, it was just a little too weird and dull to me.
August 16, 2017
Weird. So many unbelievable aspects of this book. And it contains loads of biases in politics from the author's perspective. Tedious read and one of those books you literally trudge to get through. Ugh.
Read
March 4, 2017read again Mar 2017
June 19, 2019
Another fast-moving adventure with Sharon McCone and her husband, Hy Ripinski (or RApinski, per the book jacket?). Sharon is center stage with this one; Hy is mostly out of town and out of the picture, although their cases relate to one another. The story takes place over a two-week period of time.
Sharon's old friend, Glenn Solomon, referred Camilla and Jay Givens to her to investigate very strange things Camilla reported having seen, including infant sacrifice. Both Sharon and Glenn found Camilla to be "scary". The events she reported seemed to be happening more frequently and there appeared to be nothing tangible to support them.
In the meantime, Hy is tied up in a high-level hostage negotiation in a distant but undisclosed location. Little by little ties between the two cases emerge and Hy is in phone contact for part of the book.
The McCone-Ripinski team discovered a group called the Night Searchers, an urban treasure hunting group. Initially the group appeared to be innocuous, a bunch of bored adults who played children's games after dark around San Francisco. Gradually, however, a much more nefarious side of the group emerged, enough to indicate that anyone interested in the group's activities should be very wary.
Muller's novels are always good reads. There's suspense, enough humor to be enjoyable, a tiny touch of romance, and a cast of interesting characters. This volume is no exception, fun and light reading, despite the misdeeds of the Night Searchers.
Sharon's old friend, Glenn Solomon, referred Camilla and Jay Givens to her to investigate very strange things Camilla reported having seen, including infant sacrifice. Both Sharon and Glenn found Camilla to be "scary". The events she reported seemed to be happening more frequently and there appeared to be nothing tangible to support them.
In the meantime, Hy is tied up in a high-level hostage negotiation in a distant but undisclosed location. Little by little ties between the two cases emerge and Hy is in phone contact for part of the book.
The McCone-Ripinski team discovered a group called the Night Searchers, an urban treasure hunting group. Initially the group appeared to be innocuous, a bunch of bored adults who played children's games after dark around San Francisco. Gradually, however, a much more nefarious side of the group emerged, enough to indicate that anyone interested in the group's activities should be very wary.
Muller's novels are always good reads. There's suspense, enough humor to be enjoyable, a tiny touch of romance, and a cast of interesting characters. This volume is no exception, fun and light reading, despite the misdeeds of the Night Searchers.
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