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MURDER ON CONEY ISLAND
by Michael Jahn
Thomas Dunne Books, August 2003
320 pages
$24.95
ISBN: 0312308019


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

MURDER ON CONEY ISLAND is Michael Jahn’s ninth mystery featuring Detective Bill Donovan. The Donovan clan spends the day at Coney Island, as do most New Yorkers because the beaches are packed. Donovan, while waiting for a hot dog, sees police cars and decides to investigate. At a nearby candy store, the body of real estate tycoon, James Victor, is found murdered in the basement. Victor wanted to turn the area into condominiums; hence, there is a large number of local business owners who are obvious suspects. The grieving widow and Victor’s mistress also had motives for his murder. Donovan must determine who killed Victor, regardless of his personal feelings towards the man himself or any of the suspects.

As all books written in New York after September 11, this book deals with the destruction of the World Trade Center. There are numerous asides in the book about how if the FBI had included Donovan as part of their investigative team then the suspects would already have been apprehended. Also part of this murder turns out to directly relate to the terrorist events. This does seem somewhat implausible even within the realm of the story. Some of these events seem more like an attempt to capitalize on the tragedy rather than to tie up lose ends in the book.

Throughout this series, Donovan goes through numerous changes. He begins as a bachelor that is reluctant to marry his long-term girl and ends up as a married man with a family. He is a great father and does seem to be settling into this new role assigned to him. Although it is nice to see him grow as a character, this transformation to obsessive father is a little unnerving. At times, it seems as though he is still struggling to be a hard cop; yet, the book ends up feeling more like a cozy than a hardboiled mystery.

MURDER ON CONEY ISLAND is still a nice comfortable book to read on a lazy weekend day. The characters are inviting and none of the situations they get themselves into seem threatening or dangerous. Even though the book obviously takes place in modern times, there is a softness to the book that makes it feel as though the events took place 40 years ago.

Reviewed by Sarah Dudley, July 2003

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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