Full Frontal Murder

Marian Larch Mysteries #7

by Barbara Paul

After a brutal custody case leads to murder, Lieutenant Marian Larch must find the elusive and devious killer, and when the killer violates her personal world, she is plunged into a deadly game where her inner strength and abilities as a cop are tested. Reprint.

Genres: Mystery

251 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published September 1, 1997

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Barbara Paul is an American writer of detective stories and science fiction. She was born in Maysville, Kentucky, in 1931 and was educated, inter alia, at Bowling Green State University and the University of Pittsburgh.

A number of her novels feature in-jokes: for example Full Frontal Murder borrows various names from the British TV series Blake's 7.

Reviews

[Hilly · Rating 1 out of 5]

No stars. Rounded up for completists only.

For the love of Curt! ...and God! ...and books #4 You Have The Right To Remain Silent , #5 The Apostrophe Thief and #6 Fare Play ! :

STAY AWAY !!!!

/rant.

This series was self-published and needed an editor.

I've mentioned in the reviews for the previous books that I love Curt Holland -- who, in another incarnation, is Blakes 7's Kerr Avon. [And how I wish the stories featuring this character had been made into movies with a young Paul Darrow!] Although the stories become more dated as time passes, I have a special fondness for the earlier books (as above). BUT NOT THIS ONE. This book is inexplicably and unpardonably cruel to Curt, and I hated it for that, so read it at your own risk.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoy the relationship between Marian Larch and Curt Holland in Barbara Paul's Marian Larch series, and Full Frontal Murder is a fitting end to the series. The books in the series are enjoyable police procedurals, but this one veers off much more into the personal relationship between Marian and Holland. Some of the humor was a little cheesy and some of the plot predictable, but the emotional payoff is great.

It has become a thing on social media to talk about how many people dislike the word "moist," and I had to laugh as I read this book because the eventually revealed bad guy is frequently described as having "moist eyes."

If you can still find Paul's books, they are fast and entertaining reads, if a bit dated.

[Cherry Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this series, detective Marion Larch confronts arrogance and sexism in her police department while solving crimes. The American version of Prime Suspect although thankfully not as graphically brutal. THowever this is not a cozy mystery;it is more like Patricia Cornwall than Linda Berry. I like the interaction with her partner, how she keeps her cool, how she copes with adversity, all the while getting the crook or murderer as the case may be. Good read.

[Keepinstitches · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first book I've read of hers. I enjoyed it enough to go back to earlier in the series to see the development of the characters. About half way through, had a pretty good idea of "whodunit" but had to finish of course.

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was so bland I can't even remember what it was about. Dull, dull, dull.