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DREAM HOUSE
by Rochelle Krich
Ballantine Books, September 2003
400 pages
$24.95
ISBN: 034544972X


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Molly Blume, compiler of the weekly Crime Sheet Column for a local throwaway newspaper and freelance true crime writer, has discovered an anomaly in her analysis at crime statistics. There have been a series of vandalism acts directed towards supporters of neighborhood HARP (Historic Architectural Restoration and Preservation) groups. These groups are created by a majority of neighborhood residents and then rule on what changes house owners may make to the exterior of their homes to conform with historical and neighborhood standards. Rigid rules tend to antagonize some homeowners.

But when an elderly man with Alzheimer's whom she had met in the course of her investigation dies in a fire of suspicious origin, it gets personal for Molly. Before the onset of his disease, he had been an avid supporter of HARP and, oddly enough, his daughter had vanished five months prior to his death. Molly feels partly responsible for his death and completely intrigued by his daughterıs disappearance.

One of the most appealing facets of this fascinating mystery is the information about Los Angeles architectural history that Krich slips into the book at appropriate places. If you are one, like I was, who thought Los Angeles really did not have much history or many distinctive sorts of architecture, you will discover some truly thought-provoking information. I always enjoy learning something as I read as long as the information is integrated into the story line.

Molly Blume is a wonderful character, well-rounded, with faults and virtues, a bit impatient at times, perhaps too prone to dash in where she might have been better advised to wait, a practitioner of Orthodox Judaism but not quite always, and a woman who wants to fall in love with the rabbi, but is afraid because of her past experiences. Her large family, while not as completely delineated as she, are there to cheer her on or provide shoulders on which to cry.

Molly meets many people in the course of her investigation, most of them homeowners in historic Los Angeles districts. Some are overbearing, many are convinced of their own righteousness, some do not understand how they got involved in this situation. The most appealing is Oscar Linney, the victim. Krich never lets us forget that he was murdered in a most terrible way. He is not just a convenient body so we may have an investigation.

The plot is well done also. I had no idea, until the denouement, who the murderer might possibly be nor, for the matter, what had happened to Linneyıs daughter. There were certainly suitable red herrings and the evidence seemed to point at several different people.

Because Bloom is an Orthodox Jew and practices it, the reader also gets an insight into that religion. That is important because it is an integral part of her life and it dictates how she sees the world and how she acts to the world. It cannot be omitted and still give a well-rounded and authentic look at her character.

My only desire would have been a list of characters in the front of the book. I found myself getting lost occasionally among the homeowners and members of HARP. But that was hardly a serious problem and I always figured out which one was on center state.

This is a well-written, enjoyable book with a enigmatic mystery at its heart and a delightful woman prepared to solve it. I certainly recommend it.

Reviewed by Sally A. Fellows, January 2004

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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