L.L. Bartlett Reviews (2)
(2008) Dead in Red
Former insurance investigator Jeff Resnick is still recovering from the beating he received when he was mugged three months earlier. A baseball bat to the head left him with lingering effects, mostly bad, but also with new abilities—flashes of extrasensory visions and an uncanny, often overwhelming, ability to read people’s emotions.
When offered a part-time bartending job at The Whole Nine Yards, a neighborhood bar in the Buffalo (NY) suburb where he lives with his half-brother Richard, he’s eager to accept – if only to prove to himself he’s on the road to normalcy. His new boss, Tom Link, also asks him if he’ll use his investigative skills to look into the brutal murder of Walt Kaplan, the man whose job Jeff is filling. As Jeff and Tom talk about Walt, Jeff flashes on a red stiletto-heeled shoe.
Jeff, with his protection, Richard, along, visits the place where the victim’s body was found, by the Old Red Mill. As it turns out a nearby café owner turns out to be Richard’s high-school friend, Cynthia Lennox. While the brothers and Cyn chat in her office, Jeff senses that Walt had been there. He also senses Cynthia’s overriding emotion: fear. When police arrest a suspect, Tom calls Jeff off the case. But once Jeff gets into investigative mode, he can’t turn it off – especially when he’s sure the real murderer is still out there.
Dead in Red has a noir-ish aura about it, a departure from cozy but not really that far removed. Dead in Red may have a little more blood, an edgier – yet still vulnerable – protagonist, a darker feel – but it also offers cozy readers great characters, a riveting story line, even a bit of romance. I also enjoy the often-conflicted relationship between Jeff and Richard. Even readers who are not usually fans of the paranormal – and I am not – will find lots to like in Dead in Red.
By Diana. First published in the Cozy Library
Dead in Red is “not quite cozy.”
(2005) Murder on the Mind
His unemployment benefits are about to run out, so downsized insurance investigator Jeff Resnick feels lucky to be starting even an entry-level job in insurance claims the next day. But his luck runs out when as he’s leaving O’Shea’s bar after playing a little pool with friends. Two muggers work him over with a baseball bat, take his wallet and house keys and proceed to his apartment, where they steal his meager valuables and vandalize the place to boot.
After suffering a broken arm and some brain damage, and spending four days in a coma, Jeff finds himself headed away from
One side effect of his brain injury appears to be psychic abilities Jeff doesn’t remember having before his mugging. One image Jeff sees day and night involves a particularly gruesome murder of a banker, Matt Sumner, with whom Jeff had a single, memorable childhood encounter. What’s scary to Jeff is that the psychic flashes began appearing even before Sumner was murdered. Having spent more than a decade as an insurance investigator, Jeff feels compelled to nose around in Sumner’s murder – which police aren’t having any luck solving.
Murder in the Mind isn’t a cozy, although author L.L. Bartlett displays her cozier side when she writes as Lorraine Bartlett. The murder in Murder in the Mind is a bit more violent, some of the language more profane, and Jeff Resnick an edgier hero than in most cozies. That doesn’t mean the violence and coarse language are so excessive that readers of cozies who want to branch out wouldn’t enjoy the book – I certainly did. Murder on the Mind was a very compelling read, the plot tight and well-paced, and the relationships among the three principals (Jeff, Richard and Brenda) fascinating and cozy. I found it difficult to put down.
By Diana. First published in the Cozy Library
