Saturday, October 1, 2011

Missing Persons

Genre: Mystery
Publisher: Plume
Publication Date: May 31, 2011


Missing Persons is the debut of an edgy, exciting new Kate Conway Mystery series, by author, Clare O'Donohue,  featuring a funny, but cynical television producer turned amateur sleuth.  In the oddest chapter of her life, Kate navigates a sometimes dangerous path of lost love, bad television, unsolved cases, and her husband's girlfriend, who keeps getting in the damn way.

Crime TV producer, Kate Conway has a pretty simple job. Gain the trust of unsuspecting interviewees to extract the true story and capture it all on camera - ideally, while they cry on cue. However, Kate finds herself on the other side of the line of questioning after she gets a call from her soon-to-be ex-husband's lover, Vera Bingham who informs her that Frank, collapsed after playing basketball and was rushed to St. Anthony's Hospital, where Frank dies from a heart attack. But an autopsy shows Frank had excessive amounts of digitalis in his body; And the two women in his life -Kate and Vera - are the prime suspects. To make matters worse - Frank's grieving mistress suddenly wants to become Kate's new best friend.

As the investigation into Frank's death heats up, Kate throws herself into her work on a new television program Missing Persons. Her first assignment is the story of Theresa Moretti, a seemingly angelic young woman who disappeared a year earlier. Except, Theresa may not be as innocent as everyone thinks. Interviews with Theresa's ex-boyfriend, her disinterested "best" friend, and an attractive, but amoral, local politician, lead Kate to believe she's being lied to about the real Theresa. Although, All Kate wants is a clichéd story and twenty-two minutes of footage to take her mind off her own messy life, but when two cases appear to overlap, she begins digging into the case herself; but Kate needs to work fast before another body turns up - and it just may very well be her own.

Missing Persons is a mystery with surprising depth and smart, hip, snappy dialogue. Kate is a sharp, cynical, person who makes mistakes and learns from them - she grows and changes as the story progresses. The Kate Conway series is certain to become a favorite with mystery fans; and I, like many readers, look forward to seeing what O'Donohue does with the main character going forward.

Review copy provided by publisher.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Interesting.....