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For many writers, the third or fourth in a series doesn't live up to the promise of the first. This is especially a problem for a writer such as Denise Swanson, whose protagonist lives in a small town and has to deal with a possibly unbelievable number of murders there. However, Swanson has conquered that problem. Each entry in the series is fresh and original. In MURDER OF A REAL BAD BOY (one does wonder why an academic would start out with a grammatical error), she deals with the nemesis many of us have faced -- the contractor hired to remodel part of the house who proves totally unreliable. Skye Denison has inherited a house from a woman who was murdered there. The place wasn't in good shape to start with, but when contractor Beau Hamilton gets his hands on it, it is even worse. Skye had done her homework and checked Beau's references -- all of which were glowing. Every time she determines to fire him, he turns on his considerable charm and she relents. Finally, pushed to the limit, Skye determines to end his employ, only to find his murdered body. While she is assuring the local police chief, a man she has had a crush on since she was 18, that she will not investigate the murder, she begins to pry into Beau's life and the people who recommended him so highly. As she probes, she learns that the charming contractor was an accomplished blackmailer. The people who gave him glowing references were all terrified of his retribution if they told the truth about him -- that his work was shoddy and that he left everything half-finished. As she strips away the layers of deceit in the town, Skye is also wrestling with her feelings about two men, both vying for her affection. Wally, the police chief, is now a free man and tries to push Skye into a sexual relationship. She is trying to get over Simon, the local undertaker. When she phoned him on his trip to California, the phone was answered by a woman. He insists that if Skye trusted him, she would believe that it was an innocent encounter. Skye is not so sure. Swanson does an excellent job with the supporting cast -- Skye's overbearing mother; her doting father; Frannie and Justin, the two students who are involved in the student newspaper and who fancy themselves budding sleuths, and her brother Vinnie, a hairdresser, who is having an affair with her hotshot lawyer, a black woman from Chicago. The plot moves effortlessly from school to sleuthing to seduction.
Reviewed by Mary Elizabeth Devine, October 2006
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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