52 in 2011: a three-fer

[lumineaux]

27.  The Murder Room by Michael Capuzzo

Capuzzo manages to make a wholly unsatisfying mishmash of a fascinating subject: the Vidocq Society.  The Vidocq Society is a group of retired law enforcement professionals who get together to examine and advise on cold murder cases.  The book focuses primarily on cases handled by the three founders of the Society.

The subject is fascinating, but I found Capuzzo's handling of the subject to be too overwrought, too literary in style, and too "quirky."  He lays on the literary flourishes with a trowel.  He focuses on the personality quirks of the founders and fails to give us meaningful analysis of and closure on the cold cases.  He also has a certain left-handled compliment/fascination with the polyamorous life style of Frank Bender, one of the three founders.   About the fifth time Capuzzo talked about how odd it is that Bender's wife and steady girlfriend like each other and get along, I wanted to shout "get over it already."  Interestingly, he's almost the same way with Richard Walter's chain smoking habit: the personality quirk becomes the defining characteristic.

Capuzzo also skips around among the cold cases, often introducing a case in one chapter and then not returning to it for several more chapters.  Since I picked up this book interested in how detectives solve cold cases, this technique made for a frustrating read.

I wouldn't recommend this book to a serious true crime freak.  It might be more compelling to someone reading it as a character study of the founders of the Vidocq Society with some cases thrown in. 

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28.  Spirit Dances by C.E. Murphy

This book is the latest installment in Murphy's urban shaman/cop series, and it's the one that finally shakes up the status quo.  For those unfamiliar with the series, Joanne Walker is a mechanic and cop.  In the first book she also discovers she's a shaman/healer/warrior. These books are capable, craftsman-like urban fantasies, without the increasingly cliche elements now over-populating that field.  No vampires, no heavy sex scenes.

FYI: For purists in either Native American shamanism or Irish mythology, I'm told Murphy mangles both.  I'm not purist in either field and I find Murphy's magic system to be sufficiently interesting.

The plot of Spirit Dances involves a Native American dance troupe working some healing magic along with their performances, a power thief, and the not-relationship between Joanne and her boss.  We get to see more of Melinda Holliday in particular, with tantalizing hints dropped about Melinda's supernatural powers. 

I enjoy these books for being precisely what they are.  They are solid B+ reads, and Spirit Dances is a worthy entry in the series.

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29.  Troubled Waters by Sharon Shinn
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Shinn writes a kind of romance/fantasy/science fiction tale that is almost unique in the genre.  She tells stories of characters growing into being their best selves.   I've enjoyed almost every one of her books.

I didn't not enjoy Troubled Waters.  Shinn has built an interesting world with an odd and fascinating magic system.  But I found the book strangely cold -- a particularly unusual critique for Shinn who is a very warm writer.  The lead character is a lost heiress dragged from obscurity into the capital city and power games.  Along the way she encounters oodles of amazingly helpful people, even in situations where by all rights she should be in mortal danger.  The lead character, Zoe, is not particularly appealing to me: she's decidedly lacking in depth.  I compare her to the heroes of Shinn's angel books or Heart of Gold (one of my favorite Shin novels) and she's just bland.  I think Shinn's original working title for this work, Random Blessings, fits it far better than Troubled Waters.

On the other hand, if Shinn writes a sequel to Troubled Waters I will buy it because the world is interesting.  I wasn't much enamored of the first of the Twelve Houses books, but the series improved as it got going.  Perhaps Troubled Waters is just the slow start up to an eventually more satisfying series.

Comments

re: the murder room

[rlg.livejournal.com]

I'm wading through this one. Thank you for pointing out why it's disappointing.

I'd recommend "Witnesses from the Grave" if you want a popular forensics book.