About
Reviews
Search
Submit
Home

Mystery Books for Sale

[ Home ]
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]


  

BLUES IN THE NIGHT
by Rochelle Krich
Ballantine, October 2002
337 pages
$23.95
ISBN: 0345449711


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

BLUES IN THE NIGHT is the first entry in a new series by Rochelle Krich. The protagonist, Molly Blume, writes true-crime books and works as a free-lance reporter who collects data from the LAPD for local newspapers to use for their "neighborhood crime" sections. As the book opens, she comes across a police report that warrants special attention: an unidentified woman, wearing a nightgown, was the victim of a hit-and-run accident. As Molly says, "It was the nightgown that hooked me."

Molly wants to know why a woman would have been out on Laurel Canyon, in the middle of the night, in a nightgown. Luckily she has a friend in the LAPD, Detective Andy Connors, but Connors can't tell her much this time, because the police don't know much. That doesn't stop Molly, though, any more than Connors' importuning does. Molly's inquisitive nature can't let this drop, even when it becomes apparent that her investigating is putting her in danger.

Molly is a likeable, believable character. In fact, all the characters in BLUES are believable and fully drawn. Molly and her family are Modern Orthodox Jews and Krich weaves that seamlessly into the story; there's nothing gimmicky about it, nor are the explanations of their religious practices didactic.

Krich's skill isn't limited to fully-developed characters. Her deft touch makes Los Angeles and its environs come alive. Her plotting is exquisite. Calling BLUES IN THE NIGHT a page turner may not do it justice, because so often books described that way are plot-driven to the exclusion of everything else. But this is a page-turner in the best possible sense; it's a hard book to put down because the reader is soon as obsessed as Molly with unraveling the backstory on the woman in the nightgown.

Besides, who could resist a book by an author with the sense of humor to

have this Molly quoting that other Molly's soliloquy from Ulysses?

Reviewed by Susan Anderson, June 2002

This book has more than one review. Click here to show all.

[ Top ]


QUICK SEARCH:

 

Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
[ Home ]