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Death by Crystal: A Johannah Wilder Mystery
Book by Bushell, Agnes
- GenresMystery
149 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1993
2 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 14, 2018
A ne'er-do-well is found murdered in the studio apartment of a gay artist and pot supplier in Portland, Maine, his skull smashed open by a large ornamental crystal. The cops assume the artist is guilty and haul him in. Portland's gay and marijuana communities are a lot less convinced, and lesbian PI duo Johannah Wilder and Ruth Wilson are called upon to investigate a case that proves to be a whole lot bigger than anyone initially imagined . . .
As a mystery novel, this is a fairly slight affair -- one that I enjoyed reading but would hardly rush out and start twisting people's arms about. Where it became more interesting for me was in its exposition of the political culture associated with marijuana and the effort to legalize its recreational use. This was something about which I'd hitherto known almost exactly zero; I now have a far greater understanding of, and thus sympathy for, that cause. The book has more than a smattering of gay/lesbian politics, too.
I read a good part of this book during a plane trip, the takeoff of whose second leg was much delayed by freezing rain -- in other words, I read a chunk on a plane, a chunk while curled up on a seat in an airport, and a chunk on a second plane (and then the biggest chunk on arrival at my destination). I've always felt that long journeys are ideal for modest entertainments of this kind: the novel's intriguing enough that you do really want to open it again each time, but not so powerfully gripping that you spit and curse when your flight is called.
Overall, Death by Crystal is a fun outing: worth picking up if you spot it.
As a mystery novel, this is a fairly slight affair -- one that I enjoyed reading but would hardly rush out and start twisting people's arms about. Where it became more interesting for me was in its exposition of the political culture associated with marijuana and the effort to legalize its recreational use. This was something about which I'd hitherto known almost exactly zero; I now have a far greater understanding of, and thus sympathy for, that cause. The book has more than a smattering of gay/lesbian politics, too.
I read a good part of this book during a plane trip, the takeoff of whose second leg was much delayed by freezing rain -- in other words, I read a chunk on a plane, a chunk while curled up on a seat in an airport, and a chunk on a second plane (and then the biggest chunk on arrival at my destination). I've always felt that long journeys are ideal for modest entertainments of this kind: the novel's intriguing enough that you do really want to open it again each time, but not so powerfully gripping that you spit and curse when your flight is called.
Overall, Death by Crystal is a fun outing: worth picking up if you spot it.
May 14, 2017
I like mysteries and this has a couple elements that make it stand out a bit: it's set in Maine and the detectives are female. Unfortunately, the author injected her political agenda into the story too much.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews