In Over My Head
A Chesapeake Conference Center Mystery
Diane Marquette
Cambridge Books (Trade Paperback)
ISBN-10: 1-59431-468-3 (1594314683)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59431-468-1 (9781864314681)
Publication Date: July 2007
List Price: $16.95
Synopsis (from
the publisher): Jill McCormick works as the night security guard at an
exclusive, high-level conference center on Maryland's Chesapeake Bay.
She considers her job a stepping stone to something better in her
pursuit of a career in law enforcement, and recognizes that a stint at
the prestigious Chesapeake Conference Center will look impressive on
her resume.
But the tranquil waters turn choppy when the drowning of a prominent
guest begins to look more like murder, and the evidence mounts against
Jill's boss, the self-centered and unpopular general manager of the
center. When the local sheriff seems content to look the other way
rather than suspect his good friend the manager, Jill enlists the help
of her deputy lover, Mitch Garrett, to conduct an investigation of
their own, even though it may implicate both their bosses in the murder.
Review: Diane Marquette's debut novel, In Over My Head,
featuring security guard Jill McCormick, might have worked better as a
mystery if only it were a mystery. Inexplicably, Marquette pens
a three paragraph prologue that not only reveals (for all practical
purposes) who the killer is, but the motive for the murder as well. For
someone interested in a whodunit, there's almost no point in reading
any further.
A medical conference is taking place at the Chesapeake Conference Center organized by Dr. Roger Henderson, a cardiologist from Philadelphia.
The morning after everyone attending the conference arrives, Dr.
Henderson is found dead in the swimming pool. Jill McCormick, a
security guard at the conference center, is just
getting off the night shift and helps recover the body. She
participates in
the subsequent investigation which determines (no surprise here) the
death is not accidental, and is instrumental in solving the crime by
identifying the killer.
Setting aside the whodunit aspect for a moment, In Over My Head
suffers from not knowing what kind of mystery it wants to be. At times
it tries to be a cozy. There is the requisite cat, Gunther, which has a
higher character profile than the victim or any of the suspects. Or is
it a police procedural, where the discovery of clues and piecing
together the evidence inexorably leads to the apprehensive of the
killer? Maybe romantic suspense, where the focus is less on the crime
than on the relationship between Jill and Deputy Mitch Garrett? It's
all this and more, including the increasingly tired plot device of a
woman professional having to work twice as hard as a man in order to
get the recognition she deserves.
This disarray is all the more unfortunate because Marquette seems to be
a competent writer. The narrative is relatively crisp and the dialog
natural. Character development is a bit weak as is setting and locale,
but in a series these can advanced over time. However, if she's going
for a whodunit-style mystery, at the very least there has to be
some suspense, some unknown factor that compels the reader to turn the
page and find out what happens next. In Over My Head has none of that.
Special thanks to Diane Marquette for providing a copy of In Over My Head for this review.
Review Copyright © 2007 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.
Mysteries in this series ...
In Over My Head
Cambridge Books (Trade Paperback), July 2007
ISBN-10: 1-59431-468-3 (1594314683)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59431-468-1 (9781864314681)
Omnimystery keywords for In Over My Head ...
Location(s) referenced: Chesapeake Bay, Maryland.