The Mystery Starts Here

After long dry spell (did you read my last post???) I FINALLY found a very good book to read! So good that I almost read it in one sitting! Would have, too, but had an early morning appointment and had to turn off my light. I didn’t realize until half-way through the book that “Mating Season” was the second in a series. I will definitely get the first one but…you can read this one as a stand alone just fine.

The action takes place in Provincetown, Massachusetts – at the northern end of Cape Cod. It’s no secret that P-town is full of gays and Lesbians which adds a lot of color to the book. The main protagonist worked in Baltimore as a cop for 10 years but is now back on the Cape where he grew up. His name? Frank Coffin. Yes, funny. Poor Coffin’s mom  (suffering from Alzheimer’s) keeps escaping from the local nursing home (run by a man named….Branstool!!!) and shows up just when he doesn’t want her too. His long-time younger girlfriend wants a baby, BAD, so demands sex all the time. Poor Coffin is exhausted but wants to help her fulfill her dream.

The book starts with a woman who has been stabbed to death in her living room. Frank gets nauseous at the sight of a dead body – which is NOT good for a cop! As Coffin and his partner, Lola investigate, they find out that the dead woman liked to have sex with married men. They start interviewing suspects and find out she’s slept with most of the men in town. Did I tell you I giggled a lot while reading this book – a LOT! The mystery gets solved in a satisfying way and I didn’t guess who did it.

There is action, humor and a bit a pathos (poor Mom) and it’s not a long book. It’s a delightful, easy to read book with quirky characters and …. it’s a good mystery! What more could you want? I’m anxious to get the first book in the series, “High Season” and will be watching for Loomis next installment in the series. Try it – you’ll like it!

It’s New Year’s Eve and three friends are whooping it up in a local bar in their New Jersey hometown – well, two of them are anyhow. Tim Wallace is a reluctant celebrant. His wife died in a boating accident and he is still struggling to come to terms with his lost. Tim is standing at the bar, minding his own business when a man walks up and calmly tells him that he killed a woman, cut off her finger and buried her. Then he tells Tim, “Now it’s your problem,” and he walks away.

Tim is unsure what to do. The cops are positive he murdered his wife in the accident, but he’s never been charged because there was no apparent motive and they don’t have enough evidence. Tim does the right thing and tells the cops about the man in the bar – now Novack, the lead detective thinks Tim is one sick puppy and possibility a serial killer. Things keep going from bad, to worse to downright horrible in Tim’s life. The cops find a woman’s body – missing its finger and now are really after TIm. Rosenblet writes in short quick chapters that keep the action moving. There are many disparate events that occur that seem to have nothing to do with Tim – but they do. In the end, just about everything comes together in an exciting if a bit forced ending. 

“Don’t Tell a Soul” is one of those fast-paced books you simply can’t put down. I confess, I read it basically in one sitting. As an author, it’s the kind of book I want to write myself. You put your character in trouble and just keep making things worse for the poor sap. I liked “Don’t Tell a Soul” a lot but there were a few plot holes that still have me scratching my head. It’s almost as if the author forgot about those pesky details – but I didn’t. All in all, a good read and I recommend it.

Be sure to watch for my own novel coming out 8/1/09 – “Call Sign: Love” Watch for further details here.