In the first of Steve Hamilton's Alex McKnight mystery series, Cold Day In Paradise develops the character of Alex McKnight as he moves to Paradise, Michigan to run a hunting camp built by his late father. The story gets rolling when Edwin Fulton, the son of a wealthy Detroit family and a compulsive gambler, calls Alex from a motel where he has found the murdered body of his bookie. After McKnight is pursuaded to become a private investigator he is hired by Fulton's mother to watch the family when another bookie is murdered. This then prompts a local lawyer and McKnight to search for Edwin on their own. It's around this time that McKnight starts getting mysterious notes, phones calls, and roses left at his residence. It seems like the man who killed his partner while he was a police officer in Detroit is back to haunt McKnight. | ||
Plot & Themes Tone of story - suspenseful (sophisticated fear) How difficult to spot villain? - Challenging Time/era of story: Misc. Murder Plotlets - local police w/ IQ of a houseplant - killer purposefully leaves puzzle clues What % of story relates directly to the mystery, not the subplot? - 50% Special suspect? - chronically deranged person Murder of certain profession? Kind of investigator Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book Any non-mystery subplot? descript. of violence and chases - 30 % Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 30 % Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30 % How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 10 % Crime Thriller Yes Murder Mystery (killer unknown) Yes Main Character Gender - Male Profession/status: Age: - 40's-50's Ethnicity/Race Main Adversary Identity: - Male Motive of antagonist - insanity Setting United States Yes The US: - Midwest Writing Style Accounts of torture and death? - very gorey descriptions deaths/dead bodies Unusual forms of death - perforation--bullets Unusual form of death? Yes Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog |