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Just when you think every possible profession has joined the ranks of amateur detectives someone new comes along-- a feng shui consultant! In Salome Waterhouse, Denise Osborne has created a unique character: a middle-aged woman of Japanese American heritage, who previous role as researcher for her ex-husband's crime novels has given her more than a passing knowledge of police procedures and clue detection. The Waterhouse family are among the leading citizens of Holyrood-by-the-Sea, California, a coastal city not far from San Francisco. It caused quite a stir when a Waterhouse married a woman released from the Japanese internment camps after World War II, but by now everyone except the notorious O'Kelly family has given up old prejudices. The O'Kelly's still control the local press and many businesses, while the Waterhouses have built much of Holyrood, and own a great deal of the rest of it. Salome has inherited her grandfather's Perfume Mansion, but has rented it out since she never liked for the feel of the place. Now that its current tenant, artist Palmer Fordham, is found murdered there, Salome knows the ch'i of the house needs some serious fung shui. A Deadly Arrangement, the first novel by author Denise Osborne, has lots worthy of praise. Besides Salome, the cast contains her cousin Phyllis Waterhouse, another woman of about 50, serving as Holyrood's Chief of Police. There is a sizable cast of characters, and while some are more fully developed than other, they are all well beyond the stereotypical stick characters one far too often encounters. The plot is well conceived and executed, but the action does bog down occasionally. Far too much of the story is told in narrative, but there's evidence in Osborne's writing that she should be able to get over this hurdle too someday. A Deadly Arrangement is a strong first novel, and this reviewer hopes to get to know these characters better in future installments. Recommended for readers of amateur detectives, especially those who know that women don't lose their brains and abilities with the passing of a few years.
Reviewed by Debbie Bogenschutz, August 2001
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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