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Book Review By Di Bingham
Slow Kill by Michael McGarrity

Santa Fe Police Chief Kevin Kerney travels to a California ranch looking to buy some prime quarter horse breeding stock; instead, he finds himself the prime suspect in a possible homicide when a guest at the ranch, Clifford Spalding, is found dead. Confronted by a determined cop unwilling to let him off the hook, Kerney decides to conduct his own investigation. As he digs into the victim's background, he learns that Spalding's ex-wife refuses to believe that her son, a soldier killed in Vietnam some thirty years ago, is dead.

Kerney soon finds himself sharing the woman's doubts. Did Spalding's current wife, a much younger woman, orchestrate his murder with the help of a lover? Did a California cop collude with Spalding to keep his ex-wife from learning the truth about her son?

Slow Kill races from West coast to East coast, as Kerney tries to find the answers to a thirty-year old mystery and extricate himself from a situation that could ruin his career.


Plot & Themes
Tone of story - suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
How difficult to spot villain? - Difficult, but some clues given
Time/era of story:
What % of story relates directly to the mystery, not the subplot? - 60%
Special suspect? - investigator him/herself
Murder of certain profession?
Misc. Murder Plotlets - solving long-past murder - - Proving innocence of very obvious suspect - Big focus on forensic evidence
Kind of investigator
Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Any non-mystery subplot?
descript. of violence and chases - 10 %
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 40 %
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 40 %
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: - Female
Age: - 40's-50's
Profession/status:
Motive of antagonist - money/treasure
How sensitive is this character?
Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters

Setting
United States Yes
Mountains/Cliffs Yes
Mountains: - climbing on trails
Farm/Ranch? Yes
Farm/Ranch: - ranch
Misc setting - fancy mansion

Writing Style
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
Explicit sex in book? Yes
What kind of sex: - vague references
Unusual forms of death - poisoning
Unusual form of death? Yes
Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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