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Ten years ago, Rosemary Thomas was put to death for the murder of her husband, an art curator at the McFall Art Museum, whose decaying body was found inside an iron maiden that had been shipped from the McFall to a Berlin museum. Despite physical evidence tying Rosemary to the murder and enough motive (Christopher Thomas, after all, had been a longtime philanderer), Jon Nunn, the detective in charge of the case, has always had an uneasy feeling about the case. Now, with a memorial service on the 10th anniversary of her death, all the principals in the case are reuniting – giving Nunn, now retired, a chance to revisit the case. For sure, there are plenty of other suspects: Rosemary's alcoholic brother, Peter Heusen; Justine Olegard, one of Christopher's lovers; and Don McGuire, an ex-con who'd had a run-in with Christopher. While the plot is solid enough, the book falls flat precisely because of what makes it different: it is a collaboration of 26 authors, including many of today's big names: Jeffrey Deaver, Tess Gerritsen, Alexander McCall Smith, T. Jefferson Parker, Kathy Reichs and Jonathan Santlofer. While one author would have been able to flesh the characters out more, we instead get a jumble of characters, none of whom have much substance. The disparate writing styles also hinder the story's flow – though it's a good way to come to know the style of a writer you may not have read. In the acknowledgments, editor Andrew F. Gulli writes that the book (which benefits the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society) was initially conceived as an anthology. That might have been a better idea. As a novel, NO REST FOR THE DEAD doesn't rise to the talent of all the individual authors. § Lourdes Venard is a newspaper editor in Long Island, N.Y.
Reviewed by Lourdes Venard, October 2011
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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