Murder in Los Lobos
A Bella
Kowalski Mystery
Sue
McGinty
Fithian Press (Trade Paperback)
ISBN-10: 1-56474-477-9 (1564744779)
ISBN-13: 978-1-56474-477-7 (9781564744777)
Publication Date: October 2008
List Price: $14.95
Synopsis (from
the publisher): Everyone loves Connie Mercado, daughter of a prominent
local family. Everyone, that is, except whoever pushed her off the
cliff into the Pacific Ocean, ruining a perfect June morning and
bringing turmoil to this small Central Coast community.
Bella Kowalski, former nun, now an obituary writer for the local paper
and an activist for nature conservancy, knows Connie’s murder had
something to do with plans to build a profitable but ill-advised
wastewater treatment plant on environmentally sensitive land. And
Connie is only the first victim in what becomes a thorny scandal,
involving powerful politicos, corrupt local government, greed, family
secrets, and skullduggery.
Review: Sue
McGinty introduces Bella Kowalski, an obituary writer (but hoping to
become a reporter) for a central California newspaper in Murder in Los Lobos.
Bella is driving along a coastal highway when another vehicle, a much
larger Hummer, tries to force her off the road. Initially she thinks
it's because of her very public stance against a new wastewater
treatment plant planned for a pristine piece of property in her
community. Later when a co-owner of the property is found dead, her
car, which was almost identical to Bella's, pushed over the side of a
cliff, she isn't so sure. While researching the woman's background for
her obituary, Bella discovers she kept a journal. Thinking the journal
may yield clues to who killed her, Bella goes undercover to retrieve
the information, too late realizing that she may also be risking her
life.
Though Murder in Los Lobos is
a promising start to this planned series of (at least) three mysteries,
it ultimately suffers from a weak, improbable plot and erratic pacing.
On the plus side, the author takes care to introduce interesting
characters that are well drawn if a little overly complex. It probably
wasn't necessary to have such intricate backstories for all the main
characters revealed in this first book but it works to a degree because
they're extended fairly evenly over much of the story. In contrast, the
details of the murder investigation and its resolution are rapidly
compressed into much tighter spaces, not all of it in a linear, logical
manner. And it's always unfortunate when the central character does
little to unmask the killer or discover the reasoning behind the
murder, resorting to the simplistic "if I'm going to die anyway, you
might as well tell me why you did it" tactic. Still, Bella is an
engaging lead in a series that, with stronger plots that actually
develop a credible mystery, has the potential for a long(er) run.
Special thanks to Perseverance Press for providing a copy of Murder in Los Lobos for this review.
Review Copyright © 2009 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved
Have you read Murder in Los Lobos? How would you rate it?
Mysteries in this series …
Murder in Los Lobos
Fithian Press (Trade Paperback), October 2008
ISBN-10: 1-56474-477-9 (1564744779)
ISBN-13: 978-1-56474-477-7 (9781564744777)
Omnimystery keywords for Murder in Los Lobos ...
Location(s) referenced: Central Coast, California.
