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Book Review By Debbie
Murder in a Nice Neighborhood - Liz Sullivan Mysteries 1 by Lora Roberts

Liz Sullivan was innocently enjoying a pear and a book when Pigpen Murphy accosted her. Liz could just never get it through to Pigpen that she wasn't interested and never would be interested, bad smell notwithstanding. It is true that she had to be a little more forceful than usual, slamming the door shut on her home, her snug little VW bus, and Pigpen's hand just happened to be in the way at the time, but was that any reason for him to smash a fist through her window? Things just got worse when Liz woke up to find a very dead Pigpen underneath her bus the next morning.

Detective Paul Drake obviously regarded Liz as his prime suspect and a strong flight risk, due to her highly mobile "house." Liz greatly resented Detective Drake prying into her affairs and ripping apart her carefully constructed life in Palo Alto, CA. Liz liked living in the Bay area and didn't want to move, but she knew that it would only be a matter of time before her abusive ex-husband would show up. Still, she couldn't leave before the police investigation was cleared up, so Liz continued researching her new article, teaching a Senior Center Writer's Workshop, swimming at the local pool and helping out the temporarily incapacitated Claudia Kaplan. However, as Liz continued to maintain her innocence, more bodies began to pile up with another vagabond and a sweet old lady being murdered in the same manner. And Liz was the last one reported to see them alive...



Plot & Themes
Tone of story - very upbeat
How difficult to spot villain? - Somewhat obvious
Time/era of story:
Misc. Murder Plotlets - Proving innocence of very obvious suspect - Killer purposely leaves clues
What % of story relates directly to the mystery, not the subplot? - 60%
Special suspect? - investigator him/herself
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 - 20 %
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 40 %
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 - Female
Profession/status:
Age: - 20's-30's
Ethnicity/Race

Main Adversary
Identity: - Female
Age: - 20's-30's
Profession/status:
Motive of antagonist - money/treasure
How sensitive is this character?
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters

Setting
United States Yes
The US: - West
City? Yes

Writing Style
Accounts of torture and death? - moderately detailed references to deaths
Unusual forms of death - poisoning - blunt clubbing (like seals)
Unusual form of death? Yes
Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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