Genre: Police Procedural/Mystery
Description:
“Many citizens in the small college town of Rawlings, Montana, are
unsurprised to learn that Virginia Rinaldi, the world-famous sociologist, was
murdered. A few are secretly pleased. Her political enemies knew her as an
ideologue who used insults, threats, and blackmail to promote her unpopular
social views. When Detectives Seagate and Miner begin their investigation, they
discover that a local prostitute had recently moved into the professor's house,
angering Rinaldi's college-age son. And when the community learns that the
prostitute made a lesbian porn video with one of Rinaldi's students, tensions
on campus erupt, leading to more bloodshed. Drawn into a horrifying world of
sexual violence and exploitation, Seagate devises a plan to flush out the
killer. The plan appears to be on track--until Seagate unwittingly jeopardizes
the life of her partner, Ryan Miner.”
Author:
Mike Markel teaches writing at Boise State University. In addition to
the Seagate and Miner Mystery series (this is the sixth) he has written several
non-fiction books on writing and numerous articles for various publications.
For more, visit the author’s website.
Appraisal:
I've read and reviewed four of the five previous books in this series,
loving each of them. Going from memory, prior reviews have focused on the main
characters, narrator and protagonist Karen Seagate, a recovering alcoholic with
many imperfections, offset by a desire to do well, and her sidekick, Ryan
Miner, her polar opposite, a devout Mormon family man. I've previously talked
about how well the fictional city of Rawlings, Montana and the secondary
characters reflect the geography and culture of the area it would be in, were
it a real place. All of these things are still true. Maybe it’s time to talk
about plot.
The short version is, the plots are good, with The Reveal as my favorite thus far. In this particular story we
kick off with the murder of Virginia Rinaldi, a professor at the local college.
Virginia's liberal outlook has challenged and sometimes riled up the locals,
including some of her peers, but she is almost universally loved by her
students.
As Seagate and Miner investigate, they uncover a plethora of suspects
and additional crimes are committed that may or may not be related to the
initial murder. Just when I thought I'd figured out who did what, something new
would happen to shake things up, and I, along with Seagate and Miner, would be
forced to reevaluate. In the end, they figured it out. I was kept guessing
until the end, even second guessing whether they'd arrested the right person
until they'd tied up all the loose ends. This one kept me up late, eager to
find out whodunit.
Buy now
from: Amazon US Amazon UK
FYI:
Some adult language and mild adult content.
Although part of a series, The
Reveal can be read as a standalone.
Original review posted January 7, 2016.
Format/Typo
Issues:
No significant issues
Rating:
***** Five Stars
Reviewed
by: BigAl
Approximate word count: 85-90,000 words
1 comment:
I hadn't heard about this series. Always good to get a new one for the TBR pile.
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