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Novels that fictionalize real events always fascinate me. When the real story is a scandal, I wonder if the author has conjectured their way to the truth. Some play fast and loose with the facts and get the story muddled even further. Some hit on a possible truth. Some simply entertain, for their original scandal is so locked in subterfuge and mystery that no one will ever know the truth. Michele Mitchell has done this in her latest Kate Boothe novel, OUR GIRL IN WASHINGTON. The plot is a 'modern retelling' of the mysterious death of George Polk, the CBS correspondent murdered sometime in the eight days following May 6 1948. His body was found floating in Salonica Bay in Thessalonica, Greece, hands and feet bound, shot execution style in the back of the head. Polk was reporting on the Greek Civil War, and claimed to have information relating to American 'malfeasance' and co-operation with the Greek Regime. The government wrote his murder off, claiming he was killed by communist guerrillas and ultimately arresting the wrong person. Theories abound -- the British killed him to mess with Greek-American relations, the Greeks killed him to keep their aid package from Truman, the American government was trying to silence him. An independent commission was formed to investigate his death. Headed by Walter Lippman, the committee was a veritable who's who of the journalism world. Now, the George Polk Awards goes to those who excel in journalism, a nice legacy for an unfinished life. Mitchell takes this story and puts it, intact, in modern times. Kate Boothe and her partner Jack Vanzetti are hired to work as political and communication consultants to the Essex Group. Quickly thereafter, their friend, journalist John Juares, is murdered in France. Juares told Kate right before his death that he was getting ready to blow the Essex Group out of the water. The Essex Group is a corporate bogeyman, the evil entity with its greedy and immoral fingers in every available pie. If one were liberal, one might think the corporation modeled on the media's recent portrayal of Halliburton -- a catch-all bad guy company directly and indirectly responsible for all the ills of mankind. Why idealists Kate and Jack accept the retainer and go to work for the company is a bit of a mystery. I kept waiting for Kate to have that light bulb moment that the Essex Group was bad news. Instead, she endeavors to bring the company, and the man she believes responsible for Juares' death, down from within. The story moves along nicely and all aspects of the actual case are covered well. There are many believable and entertaining characters who give the story a modern flair. Mitchell succeeds in making a nearly 60-year-old murder relevant and timely, proving that political scandal will always find a foothold. I look forward to Michele Mitchell branching out of the 'retelling' mold and into her own creative stories. She's a lovely writer -- very accessible and lyrical, with moments of brilliant prose that made me catch my breath. Descriptions of Washington, DC were spot-on, Mitchell allows the city to be a character in its own right. A wedding reception at the Corcoran Museum of Art hearkened me back to my days in the city and left me longing for the brief, idyllic interludes of vapidness that make living in DC such an unique experience. I'll seek out Mitchell's first book in this series, THE LATEST BOMBSHELL, and look forward to her future work.
Reviewed by J. T. Ellison, May 2006
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Contact: Linda Wilson (ljw@reviewingtheevidence.com), Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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