A trial that promises to be “a media supermagnet: a sex scandal with radical social implications”
Ladies and gentlemen, meet THE WOMEN’S MURDER CLUB - Lindsay Boxer, police sergeant and homicide detective; Yuki Castellano, prosecutor and assistant district attorney; Claire Washburn, medical examiner and forensic scientist; Cindy Thomas, writer and investigative journalist. Their novels are as predictably formulaic as the proverbial Hallmark movie but that formula (as of the writing of THE 17TH SUSPECT) is working like a well-oiled high speed machine so don’t expect authors Paetro and Patterson to be breaking the pattern any time soon.
Think of a WMC novel as a mash-up of two or three novellas or short stories, each involving one of the WMC ladies as a lead protagonist – a murder, trial or legal issue, medical drama, rape, breaking news story, kidnapping, bombing, arson, social issue … you get the idea. The stories weave in and out of one another in real time to produce a single larger novel but the interaction between stories is typically minor, incidental, or coincidental.
Sprinkle in a generous helping of personal issues interrupting the ladies’ professional lives – marital difficulties; flagging sex lives; questions of professional integrity or self esteem; pregnancy; professional discord in their employment; divorce or separation; commitment; changing personal objectives; morality … once again, all pretty predictable stuff!
Last but not least, toss in at least one or two coffee klatch, dinner and drinks, or purely pub meetings over booze during which the ladies meet and discuss their issues and brainstorm potential ideas and solutions with one another.
In a pretty real sense, if you’ve read one WMC novel, you’ve read them all but, darn it, they’re entertaining as hell, they manage to be quite gripping, and THE 17TH SUSPECT is no exception to this astonishing string of successes. The story lines in this one? First, the trial of a female executive accused of rape by her male subordinate and, second, the story of a serial murderer targeting homeless victims and the apparent lack of interest by the police force in solving the crimes because the victims have no standing in society. And how about those personal issues? Is Yuki’s marriage on the rocks? Is Lindsay pregnant? How will she fare in the face of an Internal Affairs investigation into her alleged jurisdictional interference in the investigation of another part of the SFPD?
Definitely recommended. Read it and enjoy!
Paul Weiss