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DARK CORRIDORS VOL. 3, No. 33 |
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What a way to start
a career in real estate!
of TheColumnists.com
You have to feel for poor Ellen McKenzie, the heroine of Kathleen Delaney's first novel "Dying For A Change" (AmErica House, $19.95). She's recently divorced and just starting her new career as a real estate agent in her old home town. Excited about showing her first house to a client, she suffers a serious setback.
That would be the dead body she finds in a closet of the house, just before her clients arrive. Talk about a deal-breaker!
Worse yet, this isn't a heart attack victim or some homeless guy who O.D.'ed on dope while catching a few winks in an empty house overnight. Nope, this is a murder victim, lying in a humongous pool of blood.
And since "Dying For A Change" is a mystery, it's only natural that the murder victim is at dead center of a web of intrigue, surrounded by any number of potential suspects. The dead man is Hank Sawyer, the town's most successful building contractor and an ardent supporter of the big new discount store that's coming to town, despite a whole lot of controversy. (Think Wal-Mart.) One suspect who really hates the idea of the new superstore is the cantankerous old guy who runs The Emporium, the town's only other big department store, which probably will be put out of business when the new store opens.
But then Hank also had quite a reputation as a ladies' man around town and there are some irate husbands who certainly won't be in a mournful mood to learn that he's been offed. And what about his wife, who had to put up with the humiliation of his love affairs? Then there's the mousy office secretary in the real estate office who seemed to be involved in some sort of "special relationship" with Hank recently. What was that all about?
And, as suspects go, what about the real estate agent who may have been involved in some shady deals. Wasn't Hank trying to blow the whistle on that guy and working to get the agent's license revoked?
Because she found Hank's body, Ellen seems to be linked regularly to the murder case. Her work in the realty office keeps bringing her into contact with all the suspects and her childhood friendship with Police Chief Dan Dunham, which may be blossoming into a new romance, keeps her close to the investigation, too.
When yet another murder occurs, Ellen is drawn even close into the killer's line of fire and pretty soon her curiousity starts nudging her into the kill zone.
"Dying For A Change" is the work of Kathy Koppang, who has been a real-life real estate broker in Paso Robles, a small town in Central California, for more than 20 years. Under her pen name, Kathleen Delaney, she's busy writing a second mystery which reunites Ellen McKenzie and Dan Dunham. Koppang is also a nationally-known breeder of show horses, so it's no surprise that the new novel will take Ellen into the world of horse shows.
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pen name of Kathy Koppang, a real-life real estate broker in Paso Robles, CA. |
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Her mysteries are set in the Central California town of Santa Louisa, which sounds a lot like San Luis Obispo, the first big town down the highway from Paso Robles.
Delaney does a good job of taking us into the real estate business, the backdrop for her mystery, and successfully plants quite a few credible red herrings on her way to the windup of "Dying For A Change," though I'll have to admit I guessed who the killer was fairly early in the process. I think that may be because I liked that character least of all the ones she introduces us to and may have been hoping that's where the trail might lead.
If I had one criticism, it might be that Ellen is not pro-active enough as a protagonist of a mystery. She really does very little sleuthing and finds herself in the middle of the various developments too often by accident. I'd like to see her develop that curiousity quite a bit more, even at the price of making her as obnoxious as Agatha Christie's Miss Marple could become upon occasion as she snooped her way to new clues.
Still, "Dying For
A Change" does most things well and serves as a promising
debut for a new contender in America's growing family of mystery
writers.
© 2002 by Ron Miller.
The Ron Miller caricature is © 2001 by Jim Hummel. The book
cover reproduction is © 2002 by Crown Publishing.
Ron
Miller is a former nationally syndicated television columnist
and the author of "Mystery! A Celebration," the official
companion book to PBS' "Mystery!" series. He now teaches
classes in mystery and related topics at both Whatcom Community
College and Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington.
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