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Lt Jack Daniels of the Chicago Police Dept. is not having a wonderful day. There is no air-conditioning, the fan just quit, and the morgue called because they have extra body parts. Jack and her partner, Detective First Class Herb Benedict, go over to investigate the surplus arms. The arms are connected by a pair of handcuffs -- Jack's handcuffs. Jack gets a call from Florida; her mother is in the hospital with a broken hip. She was found in her bathroom, four days after she slipped and fell. Jack wants her to move back to Chicago. Mrs Streng wants no part of that -- she's an independent woman, and wants to stay in Florida with her friends. She definitely doesn't want to discuss how many times she's fallen already, and what other bones she may or may not have broken. Back in Chicago, the heat wave continues, as do the killings. Something at each crime scene is connected to Jack. This, along with the technical skills of the killer, leads Jack to the conclusion that the killer is a fellow police officer; not a pleasant thought. One bright spot in Jack's life is her new boyfriend. He's an accountant, which may not sound exciting, but Jack is almost in love with Latham Conger. He would like to move their relationship to the next level -- living together. Jack's mother does wind up in Chicago, along with both her elderly boyfriend and Jack's ex-husband. Alan Daniels wants to try again, thinking that he's gotten over his misgivings about her career. This throws the proverbial spanner into Latham's plans. The killer is caught, but will probably walk, because the defense is claiming he killed because of a brain tumor. Jack knows better, and the killer has promised to go after Jack and her loved ones. Which he does, with a vengeance. BLOODY MARY is not as suspenseful as WHISKEY SOUR; we know who the killer is fairly early in the book. The suspense comes from knowing that he's going to go after Jack but not knowing how or when. Herb's mid-life crisis is a nice sub-plot, although (for those of us of a certain age) there are no real surprises. Jack's feelings of being between the proverbial rock of her job and the hard place of care-giving for an elderly parent are right-on; the guilt can be as overwhelming as Konrath portrays it. I enjoyed BLOODY MARY, even though the ending was not very satisfying for me. If Jack thought her life was a shambles in chapter one, it's a good thing she couldn't see what was coming. Perhaps Konrath intended it to be so open-ended because the loose ends will be the focus of the next book. I hope so. In spite of my low-grade vexation at the ending, I am looking forward to the next in the series. If you thought WHISKEY SOUR was a good book, you should be pleased with BLOODY MARY. Jack's character grows, we learn more about Herb, and we know that another book surely has to be in the works.
Reviewed by P. J. Coldren, August 2005
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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