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Barbados Heat by Don Bruns

Barbados Heat
A Mick Sever Mystery

St. Martin's Minotaur (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-312-30492-7 (0312304927)
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-30492-8 (9780312304928)
Publication Date: November 2003
List Price: $24.95

Synopsis (from the publisher): Congressman Robert Shapply is no saint. A former music insider who fleeced his clients for millions, he now leads the crusade against offensive rap lyrics. So when he is attacked and murdered in front of his Adams Morgan home, the list of suspects - from former clients to current headliners - is endless. But the killer might be closer to home: police arrest Shapply's son and charge him with murder.

For music journalist Mick Sever, covering this case is personal. Mick, a former client of the congressman and best friend of the accused killer, knows the case isn't quite as simple as it appears. He believes his friend's claims of innocence and sets out to prove them. With the help of his ex-wife and an old friend, Mick must penetrate the bizarre Shapply family - the icy matriarch, Alicia, the disturbed daughter, Amber, and the minister brother-in-law - to find the truth. The investigation will take Mick from the halls of the Capitol in to the beaches of . Threatened by unknown assailants and dangers at every turn, Mick becomes the hunted as the killer turns the tales in a stunning climax.

Review: Rock-and-roll journalist Mick Sever returns in Barbados Heat (after last year's Jamaica Blue), a fairly routine mystery with unoriginal and stereotypical characters.

Barbados Heat reads like a plot outline for a screenplay. One can't help but start imagining the actors who would be cast for the various players (co-starring Ving Rhames as T-Beau, Joan Allen as Alicia Shapply, ...). And though some of the book is set in Barbados, Bruns never takes advantage of the setting, failing to evoke the character of the people and culture of this country.

There is a rushed feel to this book. Bruns favors short chapters (there are 66 in 302 pages) for no obvious literary reason. Oddly, the first two chapters begin with a specific date and a precise time (suggesting these may be important), but are not mentioned again. And somehow Sever is able to observe Ginny while talking on the phone with her, a thousand miles apart. Minor points to be sure, but a better author of a better mystery would have paid attention to these details.

Review Copyright © 2003 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.

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Mysteries in this series ...

Jamaica Blue
St. Martin's Minotaur (Hardcover), October 2002
ISBN-10: 0-312-30490-0 (0312304900)
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-30490-4 (9780312304904)

Barbados Heat
St. Martin's Minotaur (Hardcover), November 2003
ISBN-10: 0-312-30492-7 (0312304927)
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-30492-8 (9780312304928)

South Beach Shakedown
Oceanview Publishing (Hardcover), September 2006
ISBN-10: 1-933515-02-3 (1933515023)
ISBN-13: 978-1-933515-02-1 (9781933515021)

St. Barts Breakdown
Oceanview Publishing (Hardcover), March 2008
ISBN-10: 1-933515-12-0 (1933515120)
ISBN-13: 978-1-933515-12-0 (9781933515120)

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