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Murder In A Heat Wave Book Summary and Study Guide

Detailed plot synopsis reviews of Murder In A Heat Wave




Dunne, Mar 2003, @22.95, 224 pp.
ISBN: 0312276621

After ten days visiting her son and his family in California, retired attorney Martha Patterson returns to New York City after an all day trek home. Just wanting to go to sleep in her air conditioned Greenwich Village apartment, Martha finds the cooling device is broken and the hotter than a match stick heat unbearably wilting her brain. Perhaps it is jet lag, a senile moment, or just heat stroke but Martha insanely agrees to run for the cooperative board at the urging of her irate neighbors.
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Management representative Rashida Grant needs to obtain a copy of the air conditioning maintenance contract to give to the board's lawyer. Her efforts to reach the board president Arnold Stern have failed and since he listed Martha in case of an emergency she calls her to enter his apartment. They find someone murdered the vilified Arnold. NYPD Homicide Detective White quickly learns that everyone detested Arnold. Though quite reluctantly, Martha begins her own inquiries.

Though the amateur sleuth elements depend too heavily on coincidence, fans will rejoice with the third Martha Patterson Greenwich Village cozy. Martha and the other tenants provide a slice of small village life within the high rise New York tenement. The action is mostly off screen, but fans will enjoy summer in the city with no spoons full of love shared by any of the cast.

Harriet Klausner

The review of this Book prepared by Harriet Klausner



Chapter Analysis of Murder In A Heat Wave

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Plot & Themes

Composition of Book descript. of violence and chases 10%Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives 40%Feelings, relationships, character bio/development 20%How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) 30% Tone of story    -   suspenseful (sophisticated fear) How difficult to spot villain?    -   Very difficult--no foreshadowing/clues Time/era of story:    -   2000+ (Present) What % of story relates directly to the mystery, not the subplot?    -   70% Kind of investigator    -   amateur citizen investigator Kid or adult book?    -   Adult or Young Adult Book Crime Thriller    -   Yes Murder Mystery (killer unknown)    -   Yes

Main Character

Gender    -   Female Profession/status:    -   a lawyer creature Age:    -   40's-50's Ethnicity/Race    -   White/American

Setting

United States    -   Yes The US:    -   Northeast City?    -   Yes City:    -   New York

Writing Style

Accounts of torture and death?    -   generic/vague references to death/punishment Amount of dialog    -   significantly more dialog than descript

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Gretchen Sprague Books Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s).
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