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Ex-marine Angela Matelli is no wimp. You won't catch her fluttering her eyelashes or feeling faint, unless she's been knocked over the head with a heavy object. It's refreshing to find a strong female lead who is tough without being overbearing, able to face the world on her own without seeming brittle or cold. Wendi Lee has managed it beautifully in The Good Daughter, her first entry in the Angela Matelli private eye series. We are treated to a portrait of a realistic female character returning to Boston's Little Italy after an eight year stint in the marines; we follow her as she opens her first office, takes on her first case, makes her first contacts and resolves some family issues as best she can. Angie's first client arrives in the form of Tom Grady, ex-cop and one time partner to her Uncle "No Legs" Charlie. What seems like a fairly simple background check quickly escalates when Grady is knifed to death in an apparent mugging gone awry. Is it only a coincidence that Angela was attacked the same night, in the same way, by a man carrying the same kind of weapon? Her resulting investigation leads readers into an international conspiracy based right there in Beantown, one that could have devastating effects on the entire city and especially Angela herself. The author's experience writing short stories and western novels has stood her in good stead. Although this book has some of the hallmarks of a first mystery - the dialogue occasionally feels stilted, the plot loose in places - her overall talent as a writer shines through in excellent characterizations and a vivid sense of time and place. I found myself wishing I could hop on a plane and spend Sunday with the family, maybe argue over a pizza at Santarpio's or sit down with Angela and her friend Raina for a really good carbonara and a bottle of wine. Fortunately, there are three more series books in which I hope to do just that.
Reviewed by Jenifer Nightingale, March 2002
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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