Blue - Hardcover

Padgett, Abigail

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0892966718 ISBN 13: 9780892966714

Publisher: Mysterious Press, 1998

Synopsis

Blue McCarron is a former professor, now making her living as a retail consultant. She was hired by the brother of Beatrice Muffin Crandell, a 72-year-old widow who confessed to murder several years earlier. As Blue delves into the crime, she discovers that not only are Muffin's society friends lying to protect her but they are themselves integral players in an international conspiracy.

About this title

Reviews

The gifted author of five Bo Bradley mysteries (The Dollmaker's Daughters, 1997, etc.) kicks off her equally impressive new series with three bangs. When a San Diego tremor disables the timer in a public freezer, the five-year-old corpse stored inside (surprise #1) barely has time to come to room temperature before the police have a confession (surprise #2). The self-accused killer is (surprise #3) Beatrice (``Muffin'') Crandall, 61, who claims she bashed the still-unidentified lowlife on the head when he broke into her place, then tied the body into a neat bundle, drove it to Roadrunner Ice and Food Storage, and waited to die of cancer. It's an incredible story, of course, and Muffin's brother Dan is sure that psychologist Blue McCarrona prickly, opinionated lesbian who's lived alone in a desert motel ever since her lover Misha Deland skedaddled two years agocan find enough flaws in it to get the confession thrown out of court and Muffin thrown out of jail. And sure enough, Blue's convinced that Muffin, a passionate activist who raised Dan after their parents died, is no killer. Before she can confront her with the flaws in her confession, though, Muffin is deadnot of her fatal cancer, but of a poisoned Dr. Pepper. It's only the beginning of a new wave of violence against Muffin's tight-knit circle of friends, golden-agers who don't seem anywhere near ready for retirement. Blue's a social psychologist who sounds more like an anthropologist (or a zoologist) when she's talking about the male animal. But burning ears shouldn't keep readers of either gender from enjoying this suspenseful, boldly plotted tribute to the power of sisterhood. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Blue McCarron has a Ph.D. in social psychology. She teaches and writes while living reclusively in an abandoned motel in the middle of the California desert with her Doberman, Bronte. A minister's kid, she has an imprisoned felon for a twin and a broken heart from grieving over her lost lover, Misha. When a body is found trussed up in a public freezer and widow Muffin Crandall, 61, claims she killed an intruder in self-defense and then did some dumb things, including freezing the corpse for five years, Muffin's brother Dan hires Blue to free his much older sister by analyzing her. It is apparent to Blue and forensic psychiatrist Rox that Muffin's story is a hoax. But who is Muffin protecting? Who wants her dead? And, maybe more important, will Blue ever resolve her love for Misha and love again? Complete with commentary by a Rastafarian Greek chorus in the form of ex-felon BB the Punk, the witty, suspenseful lesbian-detective thriller is hard to resist. Whitney Scott

Two years after her lover left without warning, Blue McCarron has retreated to an abandoned motel in the desert near San Diego. She's a social psychologist who is decidedly antisocial; her only companion is a Doberman named Bront?. When the frozen body of a street hustler is discovered in a meat locker and an old woman, Muffin Crandall, confesses to his murder, Blue is asked to investigate. Muffin pretends to be crazy, but Blue doesn't buy it and sets out to find the real killer. Along the way, she befriends a prison psychiatrist and ex-con. Together they stumble onto a child prostitution ring and a secret organization determined to save the young prostitutesAat any cost. Blue has to confront demons from her past, including her twin brother, who is in prison, and her lingering passion for her missing lover. Blue is sassy, tough, scared, vulnerable, and funnyAa great new character from Padgett, known for her Bo Bradley series (The Dollmaker's Daughters, LJ 1/97). Recommended.AKaren Anderson, Arizona State Univ. West Lib., Phoenix
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Mysterious Press
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0892966718
• ISBN 13: 9780892966714
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 336