Mirror Image
A Daniel Rinaldi Mystery by Dennis Palumbo
Review: Dennis Palumbo introduces clinical psychologist Daniel Rinaldi, who may have been the intended target when a patient of his is murdered in the parking garage near his car, in Mirror Image.
Kevin Merrick had been referred to Rinaldi by the Pittsburgh police department, after spending six months in a psychiatric ward following a crime in which he was the victim. Rinaldi was making progress with Kevin, but was also troubled that Kevin had taken to dressing like him, even stealing items from his office to take as his own. One evening following a session, Rinaldi leaves his office only to discover Kevin lying next to his car, fatally stabbed in the chest. The police initially believe Rinaldi may have been the target — in the darkness of the garage, the killer could have easily mistaken Kevin for Rinaldi — but later come to a different conclusion. It turns out Kevin was the son of Miles Wingfield ("Personal worth conservatively estimated at six to seven billion [dollars]"), and that Kevin may have been the intended target after all. From Rinaldi's sessions with Kevin, he knew the dead man had an estranged sister, Karen. "If Kevin's murder did have something to do with who his father was, did that mean Karen — wherever she was — might be next? Unless this whole investigation had begun too late, and she was already dead ..."
Mirror Image is a strong start to this series, with a multi-faceted lead character that readers will want to know more about. The supporting cast is well rounded, with characters appropriate to the primary storyline (though it isn't clear which of these may be recurring in future books; almost certain to return will be Noah Frye, a paranoid schizophrenic and close friend of Rinaldi, who works at a waterfront bar retrofitted from a coal barge.) If anything, the weakness here is that the murder mystery itself is somewhat overplotted, with numerous twists that, while not all of which are entirely unexpected, some of which border on the contrived. Still, few readers are likely to be disappointed with the outcome, Mirror Image being, in the end, an intelligent and most enjoyable mystery.
Acknowledgment: Dennis Palumbo provided a copy of Mirror Image for this review.
Review Copyright © 2010 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved
Location(s) referenced in Mirror Image: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
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Mirror Image by Dennis Palumbo
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
Format: Hardcover
ISBN-10: 1-59058-750-2
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-750-8
Publication Date: August 2010
List Price: $24.95
Synopsis (from the publisher): Dr. Daniel Rinaldi is a psychologist who consults with the Pittsburgh Police. His specialty is treating victims of violent crime. Kevin Merrick, a college student and victim of an armed assault, is one of these people.
A fragile, troubled kid desperate for a role model, a sense of identity, Kevin has begun dressing like Rinaldi, acting like him, mirroring his appearance. Before Daniel has a chance to work this through with his patient, he finds Kevin brutally murdered. Stunned, he and the police suspect that he, not Kevin, had been the intended target.
Feeling responsible, Rinaldi is determined to help find the killer, who’s begun leaving death threats for the psychologist. His journey takes him through a labyrinth of friends and colleagues, any one of whom may be the killer. It also includes an affair with a beautiful, free-spirited Assistant DA with secrets of her own. And when Kevin’s identity as the estranged son of a Bill Gates-like biotech giant is revealed, the investigation of his murder turns into a national story … even as another person turns up dead.