Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, is publishing a new review of Mortal Friends by Jane Stanton Hitchcock. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.
Mortal Friends by Jane Stanton Hitchcock
Non-series
Harper (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-06-117370-3 (0061173703)
ISBN-13: 978-0-06-117370-7 (9780061173707)
Publication Date: June 2009
List Price: $25.99
Review: Jane Stanton Hitchcock crafts a tale of high society and murder in the stand-alone thriller Mortal Friends.
The story is told from the perspective of Reven Lynch, an antiques dealer in Washington DC and best friends with Violet Bolten, who, with her husband Grant, is one of the city's most connected power couples. Reven and Violet are jogging when the latest victim of the Beltway Basher is found. The serial killings have the police stumped as there is little to connect the women other than they had all attended a society function at one point or another. But in a city where these events take place frequently, that's hardly a solid lead. Still, DC Detective Gunner asks Reven to be his eyes and ears at the dinners and gala events she attends.
While there is a murder, a suspect or two, a detective, and an amateur sleuth, there's no sense of urgency in dealing with the crime and the resolution, when it occurs, almost seems like an afterthought. Mortal Friends proceeds along at what can best be called a leisurely pace. Written almost in the style of a personal diary, Reven notes what functions she's attending and with whom, what happens before, during, and afterwards, and the secrets and lies that unfold as a consequence. Presumably the reader takes on the role of Detective Gunner here, sifting through all the information to extract the one or two details that will lead to the identity of the killer. But Reven's narrative is almost clinical in its approach, with little emotion ever shown, and no suspense is ever generated.
In the end, the cover is the most intriguing part of the book with Mortal Friends being more an insider's guide to Washington DC society than a mystery. And that's something of a disappointment, especially given the rich material the author had to work with.
Special thanks to HarperCollins for providing an ARC of Mortal Friends for this review.
Review Copyright © 2009 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved
If you are interested in purchasing Mortal Friends from Amazon.com, please click the button to the right. Mortal Friends (Kindle edition) is also available. Learn more about the Kindle, Amazon's Wireless Reading Device.
Synopsis (from the publisher): When the latest victim of the "Beltway Basher" is found in the woods of Montrose Park, Reven Lynch's favorite jogging spot, her crime-loving antenna goes up. The murder makes Reven and her best friend, Violet Bolton, reconsider their running route—but that's not the only change in Reven's routine. Her chic Georgetown neighborhood isn't accustomed to brutal slayings, and when the smooth, enigmatic Detective Gunner shows up in her antique shop, asking pointed questions, Reven's left wondering how close to home the killings are.
Gunner is convinced the murderer is a society bigshot hiding in plain sight. But he is out of his element in the rarefied world of embassy dinners and symphony balls, and Reven is perfectly positioned to feed him the inside information he needs. She throws herself into her role as the detective's "ersatz Mata Hari," only to discover that the prominent skirt-chasing businessman for whom she's fallen tops Gunner's shortlist of suspects. And that's not the half of it: a philanthropic bombshell named Cynthia Rinehart has taken the city by storm, and Violet's steady marriage is suddenly encountering some major turbulence.
During the course of the investigation, the social world will unravel, an old friendship will be put to the test, scandalous secrets will be unleashed, and Reven will discover that nothing old or new, in high culture or low life, is what it appears.
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