Revolver Road by Christi Daugherty and Carol O’ Connell’s Dead Famous are the 29th and 30th books I have read in 2020. I have previously read books written by both authors. Revolver Road is the third book in Daugherty’s Harper McClain series, which is to date is three books long. While Dead Famous is book 7 of the Kathleen Mallory series from O’ Connell.

Revolver Road – Christi Daugherty  (Harper McClain #3)

Revolver Road is the third book from Daugherty to feature newspaper reporter Harper McClain. And while it was a good read, I didn’t think it was as good as the first two books, The Echo Killing and A Beautiful Corpse, books one and two respectively.

In Revolver Road, while Harper is hiding out on Tybee Island outside of Savannah, she becomes involved in the case of a missing rising rock state. Harper is hiding out because of events that happened in A Beautiful Corpse, which I won’t discuss here. I do though highly recommend that both of the previous books be read first, prior to diving into Revolver Road.

The missing person case eventually turns into a murder case and Harper’s well being becomes more precarious.

While several aspects of the book didn’t thrill me. I still enjoyed reading it. Like the first two books,I still think Harper is  great character. Additionally, the recurring surrounding cast are equally endearing. Specifically, Luke her on and off boyfriend, her fellow newspaper employees and her best friend Bonnie.

If I rate both The Echo Killing and A Beautiful Corpse as A or A+ reads. Then I guess I’d give Revolver Road a B+. It‘s good but not on the same level as the two previous books.

However,,  I certainly look forward to the next installment of this series!

Dead Famous – Carol O’Connell

I wrote earlier that Dead Famous is book 7 in Carol O’Connell’s Kathleen Mallory series. The series consists of 12 books. I have read ten of those books. What happened is I read the first six books many years ago. Then for the longest while Dead Famous and books 8 and 9 of the Series have been on my TBR pile. I made several attempts to start Dead Famous and always put it down and read something else.

The was a six year gap (2006-2012) between book 9 Winter House and book 10 The Chalk Girl. When The Chalk Girl was released 2012 I decided to pick up Mallory’s story there, rather then go back to book 7 and restart the series!

Subsequently, I have read the next two books in the series while, books 7-9 have sat on my bookshelves. Until a few days ago, when I started Dead Famous again. Only this time I was able to stay with it and finish it.

I may have enjoyed Dead Famous more, if I had read the book immediately after book 6 Crime School, rather than 13 years later!!

Have you ever left a series then came  back picking up several books  beyond where you stopped?

The Plot of Dead Famous

Anyway, I found the story somewhat confusing. The gist of the story is there was a murder trail in Chicago in which a shock jock was unanimously found not guilty. Since then The Reaper has been killing the jury members one by one.

The foreman of the jury is a psychiatrist and is now working cleaning up crime scenes in New York. She is in the employ of Mallory’s ex-partner,  who after being shot is on leave from the New York police department. The last members of the jury are also in NYC. As is, the shock jock who is now a major radio star.

Mallory is hellbent on discovering who the Reaper is before he or she strikes again. She is also trying to straighten out her old partner and get him back on the force!

Thoughts About Mallory and Dead Famous

For me Kathleen Mallory is one of the most interesting characters in crime fiction. She started life as a wail in the streets of New York using any means necessary to survive. She was adopted by a top New York City detective and grew up in the precinct house.

While Mallory  is now a stylish NYC detective,  she still uses every means necessary to achieve her goals. While her business partner, the brilliant Psychiatrist  Charles Butler,  tries and most times fails to be here conscious.

I guess I would give Dead Famous a B+. It l was good, but somewhat confusing for me. However, I probably would have enjoyed it more if I had read it right after Crime School. So with that thought in mind, I think I’ll pick up the next book in the series Winter House really soon!

Anyone with any thoughts or either these books or authors??

Links for Further Exploration of  Author Chriisti Daugherty

Author’s Website
Facebook
Twitter;

Carol O’Connell

Random House:Carol O’Connell
Goodreads
Amazon
Wikipedia

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In Kathleen Mallory, Carol O’Connell created one of the most distinctive characters in the mystery–thriller world. Mallory is brilliant, relentless, and shaped by a brutal childhood—raised on New York streets until Officer Louis Markowitz took her in. She grows into an NYPD detective with a ferocious intelligence, an icy focus, and a small orbit of people who care about her: Riker, Charles Butler, Jack Coffey, and Markowitz’s old poker pals.

The Story

It Happens in the Dark (#11) drops Mallory and Riker into a Broadway theater where “a play to die for” keeps stopping for all the wrong reasons. Night one: an audience member dies during Act I. Night two: the playwright’s throat is slashed—suicide or murder? The production is somehow a hit and no one has even seen Act II. As Mallory digs, it turns out the script isn’t the playwright’s anymore—a ghostwriter has been rewriting it piece by piece. Now every cast and crew member is a suspect: a once-famous movie star, a troubled leading lady, a wardrobe mistress who isn’t what she seems, a gofer with secrets, and a pair of brothers as unhinged as the roles they play.

Final Thoughts

When I first discovered Mallory, I tore through the first six books. Then came a lull—#7–#9 still sit on my TBR stack. I picked the series back up with The Chalk Girl (#10) and then this one. I loved being back with Mallory, Riker, Charles, and the gang, but this entry didn’t land quite as hard for me. The plot threads were occasionally hard to track (I mixed up the two crew members and the two psychos at one point), the pacing sagged, and the culprit felt a bit easy to spot—the real question became “why?” more than “who?”

That said, the series remains terrific because the characters remain terrific. Some readers complain Mallory hasn’t changed much over time; my take is: why mess with a good thing? (Has Stephanie Plum changed that much?) When O’Connell’s machinery hums, Mallory is a force of nature and impossible to look away from.

Grade: B+   •   Book #25 for 2014

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