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PRETTY DEAD
by Gerry Boyle
Prime Crime, December 2003
325 pages
$23.95
ISBN: 0425192016


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Newspaper reporter, Jack McMorrow, and his social worker girlfriend, Roxanne Masterson, are traveling from Maine to Boston to question David and Maddie Connelly. David and Maddie are from a very wealthy and prominent family and they have been accused of hitting and locking their young daughter in a dark closet while in their house in Maine. It is up to Roxanne to find out if the accusation is true or not.

While Roxanne is interviewing Maddie Connelly, Jack is outside the house where he meets David. Roxanne soon learns that it wasn't the parents who abused the child but the au pair. The four adults get along so well that the Connellys invite Jack and Roxanne to go boating with them and soon the four become good friends.

During their visit, Jack and Roxanne meet some of the people who work for David Connelly's foundation. One person is Angel Moretti. She is 21 years old, very beautiful, and extremely flirtatious with all the men. David doesn't show any particular interest in her but Angel seems to have some kind of control over him. Jack and Roxanne notice the way Angel behaves but don't think much about it until a week later when her lifeless, nude body is found in the Maine woods, strangled.

Since Jack is on familiar terms with the Connelly family and had met Angel, his editor orders him to write about the murder and the ties it might have to the prominent Connelly family. Jack soon learns that his editor is the only one who wants Angel's story told. When he starts asking Angel's family and friends questions, he is told outright to mind his own business. Even when Mick and Vincent, two local muscles, warn him to end his investigation, it doesn't stop Jack from writing about the murder. The threats just spur Jack to look into Angel's death with even more vigor, no matter how much trouble it might bring to him and to Roxanne.

PRETTY DEAD by Gerry Boyle is the latest in the Jack McMorrow series. Mr Boyle's main character, Jack McMorrow, is a hard hitting newspaper man who, in this story, is torn between his loyalty to his new-found friends and his desire to be a first-rate journalist.

McMorrow's relationship with his girlfriend, Roxanne, is one of an adult nature between two grown-ups. Their connection is based on mutual respect and it's written in a mature and straightforward way with none of the adolescent nonsense that we see so often in today's fiction.

We meet another fascinating character, Jack's friend and neighbor, Clair. He is an ex-soldier who contributes his own unique talents to help the investigation come to a conclusion.

PRETTY DEAD is a gripping story and a real page turner. The story is well written and forthright, but with some excellent twists and turns throughout. This is the first of the Jack McMorrow books that I've read and if it's indicative of the previous books I will definitely start reading them all. Even standing on its own, I recommend PRETTY DEAD.

Reviewed by Sharon Katz, December 2003

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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