Playing God by Kate Flora

Dr. Stephen Pleasant was discovered murdered in his parked car one cold February morning, a sharped rod had been crammed down his throat, and his zipper undone. The good doctor had a reputation for visiting hookers, and by all appearances this looked to be a rendezvous gone wrong. Sgt Joe Burgess had no lack of suspects from the doctor's current wife, her father and step-father, his ex-wife, his colleagues, and his patients all had a reason to want him dead.

I've enjoyed Kate Flora's Thea Kozak series, and was surprised a new protagonist (in hopefully a new series) is introduced in PLAYING GOD. While the book has an interesting, suspenseful plot and is well-paced, where it really impresses is in the characterization. St Joe Burgess is a haunted cop. He lives for his job, and feel his turmoil and frustration as he investigates this case. Not many characters are as multi-layered and fleshed out as Joe Burgess "the meanest cop in Portland". The character alone made this book well worth reading. I hope there are many more to come.

Related Tags: Kate Flora, Playing God, Book Review, crime fiction, Joe Burgess

Out Cold by William G. Tappley

Boston lawyer, Brady Coyne, wakes up one morning to find the body of a dead girl half-buried in the newly fallen snow in his backyard. Her identity is unknown, but in her pocket is Brady's address. Brady already feels guilty because as he lay sleeping in his warm bed, the girl lay bleeding to death from a miscarriage in his backyard. Brady needs answers to who the girl is and why she had his address in her pocket.

William Tappley is a fine storyteller, and I have enjoyed many of his Brady Coyne novels. In addition to the main mystery storyline, the on-going development of the characters and their relationships is a big part of the draw of the books for me. OUT COLD started off very promising. The first half of the book was suspensefully plotted. We come to care about the girl and her story. The second half started veering into too many tangents which really just seemed to muddy up the main storyline. Then unfortunately, the resolution of the story far-fetched that it ruined the whole book for me.

**Not recommended except for die-hard Tappley fans


Related Tags: Out Cold, William G Tappley, Tappley, book review, mystery