About
Reviews
Search
Submit
Home

Mystery Books for Sale

[ Home ]
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]


  

THE BIG DIRT NAP
by Rosemary Harris
St Martin's Minotaur, February 2009
256 pages
$24.95
ISBN: 0312369689


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Paula Holliday is at the Titans Hotel to write an article about their corpse flower (aka titan arum). This rare plant stinks to high heaven and blooms very rarely after an intricate pollination procedure. It is the hope of the hotel's owner Bernie Mishkin that the publicity will do his hotel some good. The Titans Hotel has seen better days, to say the least.

There is some mix-up at check-in, Paula is accosted by Nick Vigoriti more than once between the front desk and her hotel room, and she sets him straight as to her total lack of interest in him. So she is quite surprised when the police come to question her about his unexpected demise: dead in the Dumpster behind the hotel. Paula is much more concerned about the continuing absence of her friend, Lucy Cavanaugh. Lucy is probably out having herself a wonderful time, but the phone messages Paula gets are not reassuring.

Due to the mix-up at check-in, some people believe Paula is Lucy. Whatever story Lucy is working on, they don't want her doing it. Paula isn't sure of all the details, but it's not pleasant being confused with Lucy, at least not right now. It's a huge mess, and for reasons not made very clear, Paula feels compelled to sort it all out. Which she does, eventually.

THE BIG DIRT NAP has some flaws. The plot seems very contrived, with more factions and competing interests than one might reasonably expect at a failing hotel in Connecticut. Some of the characters are very clearly introduced to facilitate the technical details of the denouement. That doesn't mean they aren't interesting, just that the reader can pretty much tell early on that their main function will be demonstrated later. Because there ARE so many factions, keeping track of all the players can be daunting. Paula's willingness, even eagerness to investigate what she has no business sticking her nose into begins to pall fairly early, as does her obvious long-standing tolerance for bad behavior on the part of a woman she considers a friend. If one has a fairly high tolerance for believing the improbable, THE BIG DIRT NAP might be an enjoyable romp on a cold day. If one prefers some degree of believability in one's mysteries, however cozy, dig elsewhere.

Reviewed by P.J. Coldren, December 2008

[ Top ]


QUICK SEARCH:

 

Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
[ Home ]