|
|
Ron Miller's DARK CORRIDORS VOL. 8, No. 26 |
|
"THE ALIBI MAN" |
 |
Why Tami's the Queen
of U.S. thriller writers
of TheColumnists.com
One of the great stories in the mystery genre over the past 20 years has been the metamorphosis of Tami Hoag from a popular romance writer into a best-selling mystery novelist who is, in fact, my choice as the current "Queen" of American thriller writers.
Though Hoag always had a strong element of mystery in her romantic novels, she wisely sensed a need for more robust story-telling in the thriller field, long dominated by male writers, so she has carved out her own special niche there with one best seller after another. As Hoag will surely tell you if you should ask, she writers "tough" novels that most definitely don't pull their punches. I can think of no American male thriller writer of any repute who's any "tougher" than Tami.
Take, for instance, her most recent novel, "The Alibi Man" (Bantam, $26), a grim sequel to her 2003 novel "Dark Horse," that brings back disgraced ex-cop Elena Estes who operates as a sort of informal private eye without either license or portfolio.
This time Elena is investigating the strangulation murder of beautiful Irina Markova, an ambitious young woman from Russia who works as the female equivalent of a stable boy in the rich and exclusive world of the Palm Beach, Fla., "horsey set" while trying to snag a millionaire for a husband.
The girl's death is especially grotesque because an alligator has begun to munch on her vital parts already, a frequent sort of thing when anybody dumps a body into the gator-infested waterways along the Florida coast. Elena had worked with Irina, so her investigation gets personal real fast.
The dead girl was last seen alive at a private party for a millionaire in a local mansion behind the security gates of an enclave for the ultra-rich. She was the only woman at the party and she was trying to make all the male guests happy by partying naked with them while servicing them all orally.
Among those attending were a handsome and famous Spanish polo star, who has been trying to make time with Elena lately, and a millionaire American playboy Elena once was engaged to marry--until he asked her to provide an alibi for him when he was brought up on charges of raping and assaulting another woman.
Elena's investigation doesn't proceed in a conventional manner, which certainly adds to the suspense. Most people don't know she used to be an undercover police narcotics detective until she disobeyed orders, went after a suspect by herself at the start of a coordinated police raid and cost the life of a fellow officer. Shunned by most cops now, that means she mostly had to work outside the law. She can only count on the assistance of one well-placed homicide detective, James Landry, who became her lover in the final pages of "Dark Horse."
In the period between the end of "Dark Horse" and the start of "The Alibi Man," Elena and Landry have broken off their love affair--and that means he isn't always as cooperative as she wants him to be as she works to find out who killed Irina and why.
Complicating her task still further: Alexi Kulak, the Russian mobster from "Dark Horse," was in love with Irina and has sworn to torture and kill whoever dumped her in gatorville. In "Dark Horse," Alexi locked one guy in the trunk of a car, then sent the vehicle through a car-crushing machine, so Elena knows he isn't whistling Dixie when he tells her she's now working for him on this murder investigation.
And that investigation is most definitely an uphill struggle since all the men who last were with Irina are members of the so-called "Alibi Club," whose members all vow to provide alibis to each other for any illegal activities they might be charged with as they go on their merry way.
As if that's not enough complication for one detective-without-portfolio, Hoag piles yet another one on the heap: The prime suspect in Irina's murder hires Elena's father, from whom she's been estranged for 20 years, to serve as his defense attorney.
Elena Estes is a hard-as-nails character, much seasoned by a hard life, and "The Alibi Man" quickly turns into a breathless page-turner against a very interesting backdrop--the super-rich playboy world of championship polo and horsemanship.
Hoag certainly knows this territory. She's a Grand Prix dressage rider who competes at the international level and spends a good part of each year at her home in Wellington, Fla., the heavily equestrian community near Palm Beach where most of the action in "The Alibi Man" takes place. (She also has a home in Los Angeles.)
Hoag knows that today's younger female readers are now reading the sexy, often violent sorts of mysteries that used to be considered men's fiction. If you're a guy, you don't get the feeling Hoag is faking her male characters--and her female characters are especially rich, though quite often jaded with men and fed up with what they've been put through by men.
If you didn't read "Dark Horse," my advice is to read that one first, then proceed to "The Alibi Man." They work very much like two halves of the same story. You do get a sense of completion from reading the two novels back to back, although I'm certainly hoping Hoag has more Elena stories to keep her career going for at least another couple of novels, if they're as exciting as these first two.
©2007 by Ron Miller. The book cover illustration is courtesy of Bantam. This column first posted July 2, 2007.
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 currently
writes about television mysteries for MYSTERY SCENE magazine.
You can comment on this column online. Please address your message to either "The Editors" or Ron Miller. To send an email, click here and don't forget to mention Ron's name: talkback@thecolumnists.com
|
|
|
Archives |
|
|