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At one time, Alexandra Shanahan was the general manager of an airline in Boston. The third book in this series finds her preparing to become a private investigator. She is working undercover as a flight attendant to uncover a prostitution ring that involves first class passengers. She's too old and straitlaced to infiltrate the ring itself; instead, she capitalizes on her management background to offer services that will be of value to the person running the ring, Angel. Just like any other business, Angel is facing competition and losing her top 'salespeople.' Alex is able to offer some solutions that will help her succeed. Alex is mentored by a PI by the name of Harvey Baltimore. Harvey has multiple sclerosis and performs the research for the cases that they take on while Alex does the leg work. In this situation, Alex faces a lot of danger. Angel is a tough woman, and it is rumored that she has killed to keep her empire going. Alex is fortunate in that she works with another flight attendant, Tristan, who takes it on himself to serve as Alex's guardian angel. In the interest of getting the job done, she betrays him terribly. Alex is an extremely stubborn woman, possibly her own worst enemy in both her professional and personal life. During the course of the book, she meets up with her long-estranged brother, and they battle each other mightily over their past history. FIRST CLASS KILLING was very much a mixed bag for me. For everything that I liked, there seemed to be something that didn't work so well. Heitman has a unique setting for her books, choosing to have them take place in the world of the airline industry. The other two books in the series capitalize on that in the situations that Alex faces. Choosing to have this book focus on prostitution by flight attendants just didn't have enough gravitas to make it compelling for the main plot line. The same dichotomy exists in the characterization. Tristan is a great character; Alex is interesting and well developed. Angel, on the other hand, could easily have been a blow-up doll. The dialog for the well-drawn characters is far more lifelike than that of the lesser characters. I really liked how Heitman portrayed the troubled relationship between Alex and her brother. Their exchanges were emotionally complex and involving. But these scenes were diluted by the other scenarios where Alex moved into full-blown amateur sleuth mode, facing dangerous situations on her own and never learning from them. And the way that Alex obtained information from Angel's web master was downright unbelievable. My overall opinion of the book? Not a thumbs up, not a thumbs down -- thumbs sideways?
Reviewed by Maddy Van Hertbruggen, April 2004
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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