McMansion
A
Ben Abbott Mystery
Justin
Scott
Poisoned
Pen Press (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 1-59058-063-X (159058063X)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-063-9 (9781590580639)
Publication Date: January 2007
List Price: $24.95
Synopsis (from
the publisher): Even the cozy New England town of Newbury, Connecticut,
is not immune to the relentless spread of McMansions carpeting the
countryside. Ben Abbott, realtor and private detective, is so incensed
that he refuses to sell them. That Ben is not the only citizen of
Newbury who is provoked by over-sized, ugly, wasteful houses becomes
apparent when the corpse of Billy Tiller, Newbury's greediest
developer, is discovered underneath his bulldozer.
The young and troubled eco-activist Jeff Kimball, who is arrested while
sitting at the controls of the bulldozer, protests his innocence.
Connecticut's state's attorney sees the opportunity to prosecute an
open-and-shut TV murder trial that will vault him into the U.S. Senate.
While Ira Levy, the small-town criminal defense lawyer hired by Jeff's
hip-hop mogul father, longs to impress movers and shakers in New York
City.
Ben Abbott, deep in debt to Attorney Levy for an expensive horse he
gave to 12-year-old Alison, is forced to pay off the debt by trying to
prove Jeff Kimball innocent of a crime that State Police Major Crime
Squad Lieutenant Marian Boyce styles "perpetrator on bulldozer on
victim."
It looks that way, says Ben Abbott. But in what order did they really
stack up?
Review:
Justin Scott's 4th book featuring realtor and private investigator Ben
Abbott, McMansion,
is a rather loosely constructed mystery populated with characters that
seem more contrived than real.
Ben has been hired to look into an environmentalist's background by the
attorney defending him, accused of the murder of a local real estate
developer. The young man was arrested atop a bulldozer under which lay
the crushed corpse. Ben quickly discovers that many of the developer's
detractors had the means and a motive to kill the man, but which of
them also had the opportunity to do so?
McMansion
doesn't break any new ground here and contains a fairly routine outline
of a murder mystery. For all practical purposes, Ben identifies the
culprit early on when he ponders the crime scene. That leaves a lot of
pages to fill. What could have made the book more interesting would
have been development of good, complex characters and incorporating
them and said outline into a new environment to make it more of a
puzzle. McMansion
tends to fail in both regards.
With only one or two exceptions, the characters here lack the
multi-dimensionality that provides depth to a story. Even Ben seems a
bit flat here. He doesn't want the case he's working on and resents the
obligation to continue. Whining about the assignment in particular, and
the title structures in general, doesn't endear him to the reader.
The setting also presents something of a problem. The fact that large
homes on large lots are being purchased by people with more money than
taste isn't a criminal act and by itself simply doesn't provide a
strong foundation upon which to build this story. And the implication
that the reason these houses exist is primarily due to the greed of
developers and the corruption of zoning officials is absurd, even in a
work of fiction.
There is a decent, credible murder plot buried here somewhere, but it
seems Scott would rather bemoan what he perceives to be the sorry state
of housing in Connecticut than craft an interesting mystery around the
death of one of its developers.
Special thanks to Poisoned Pen Press for providing an ARC of McMansion for this review.
Review Copyright © 2006 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved
Have you read McMansion? How would you rate it?
Mysteries in this series ...
HardScape
Viking (Hardcover), February 1994
ISBN-10: 0-670-85212-0 (0670852120)
ISBN-13: 978-0-670-85212-3 (9780670852123)
StoneDust
Viking (Hardcover), February 1995
ISBN-10: 0-670-85213-9 (0670852139)
ISBN-13: 978-0-670-85213-0 (9780670852130)
FrostLine
Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover), September 2003
ISBN-10: 1-59058-062-1 (1590580621)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-062-2 (9781590580622)
McMansion
Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover), January 2007
ISBN-10: 1-59058-063-X (159058063X)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-063-9 (9781590580639)
Mausoleum
Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover), December 2007
ISBN-10: 1-59058-468-6 (1590584686)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-468-2 (9781590584682)
Omnimystery
keywords for McMansion
...
Location(s) referenced: Connecticut.
