Cemetery Murders: A Mystery

Meg Darcy Mystery #1

by Jean Marcy

In the first in the series, Meg Darcy, a single, lonely, working-class dyke PI currently between cases, wonders how to seduce the attractive but aloof police detective Linquist (nicknamed The Ice Queen). The opportunity comes soon as their paths cross while each is investigating the grisly murders of homeless women whose bodies are being dumped in city cemeteries. Of course, the ultimate goal is being first to catch the killer, but is there also room for romance between two such fiercely competitive antagonists?

Genres: LGBT

192 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1997

About the author

Jean Marcy is the pen name for Jean Hutchinson and Marcy Jacobs. Partners for fourteen years, they hadn't truly explored the edges of ego until they began to write together. Additionally, they read, watch movies and entertain two dogs and four cats. They live across the Mississippit from St. Louis.

Reviews

[Wayne Spiceland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, so I'm going along, absolutely loving this book, thinking, page by page, this may be something I could actually give five stars to. Engaging protagonist, intriguing mystery, good supporting cast, nice love/lust interest, on point political commentary, humor, technically skilled writing. Yep. Liking it better with every page. It's not quite Jean Redmann or Jaye Maiman, but it's really, really good. And then...Two-thirds of the way through, authors Jacobs and Hutchison launch a damned Cruise missile, causing my steadily rising admiration to crash in flames. *SPOILER ALERT* (not involving solution of the mystery.) Sarah and Meg have sex -- a well written scene, BTW -- and afterwards, Meg asks homicide cop Sarah to divulge info about the investigation. Sarah, quite rightly, says, "No," and Meg becomes furious. Maintains that anger through the remainder of the story. Okay, she's been crushing on this woman for years, may even be developing something that's not simply lust for her, they finally hook up and -- what, she asks the woman to completely compromise her integrity???

Okay, so that annoys me enough that I subtract a star. Then it hits me: Meg is, in effect, saying, "Okay, we screwed, now, spill." Doesn't that make her kind of a whore? Yet, she dares question Sarah's sexual ethics. Minus a second star.

If the above doesn't concern you, if you think I'm over-reacting, then, fine. In any case, this a very well-crafted, well written mystery, and, for that, highly recommended. I'm quite sure that, at some point, I'll read the rest of the series, but I'm not at all sure I'll ever recover the feelings I was beginning to form about it. Your mileage, as always, may vary.

[Megan]

Have you ever started a book and said to yourself, wow, this book is really . . . kind of bland; the characters are really . . . pretty uninteresting; the author’s voice is really . . .a little forced. It’s the kind of book you can’t quote because there doesn’t seem to be anything good—or bad—enough to be worthy of separate comment. Nothing embarrassing, nothing exciting.

The premise is promising: three homeless women are murdered and their bodies placed in various cemeteries in St. Louis. When the next victim turns out to be a relative of one of PI Meg Darcy’s friends, Meg is hired to make sure that the police are covering every angle. But Meg is most interested in the angles and curves of Detective Sarah Lindstrom, who is in charge of the case.

“Why, why kill these old women? Surely they were the most harmless among us?” A good question, and one that other writers might have gone into more thoroughly as a psychological or sociological question. It is simply mentioned here; although Meg does get to interview a number of the homeless in her investigation, her questions never delve deeply enough into the women’s backstories for us to feel much empathy with them. In fact, lack of backstory may be the main reason that any book—not just this one—never climbs more than halfway up the ladder between bad and good.

Meg is determined and persistent—except maybe where Detective Lindstrom is concerned; and it is her doggedness that finally solves the mystery. The authors’ familiarity with St. Louis gives an interesting picture of that city for those of us who have never been there, and I enjoyed their descriptions of the various activities that Meg’s security firm is engaged in—although, again, I wish there had been more of them.

The pace of the book may be the best part of it. It never gets boring and finally segues into a thrilling denouement in which (instead of calling the police) the heroes walk into a dangerous situation and get hurt while catching the bad guy. And what about Meg’s attraction to Detective Lindstrom? Well, it is . . . titillating but a bit of a letdown—at least in this book.

Mysteries that are terrible in places and wonderful in others sometimes end up being rated in the 3 category. Other mysteries—like this one—earn a solid 3 from start to finish. Doesn’t seem fair, somehow, but there you have it.

Note: I read the first New Victoria printing of this novel.

Another Note: This review is included in my book The Art of the Lesbian Mystery Novel, along with information on over 930 other lesbian mysteries by over 310 authors.

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first in the series of Meg Darcy books. Written by Jean Marcy, the titanic writing team of Jean Hutchison & Marcy Jacobs in their place close to the Mississippi River. The "classic closet case," the "gay neighbor," the crime fighting, friendships and romances - all nake this a highly entertaining read.