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Murder/Mystery and Thriller Book Reviews

Marlena Thompson: A Rare and Deadly Issue

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Mystery Readers May Find a New Sleuth to Love

Reviewed by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, award-winning author of This is the Place and Harkening

Look out world! Jenny Maguire may be the new sleuth extraordinaire. She has a slot of her own. This side of Nancy Drew. That side of Miss Jane Marple.

The woman who dreamed her up is Marlena Thompson. She may well have written the first book in a series that will match Agatha Christy's run on the kind of mystery that offers the reader more than just a good whodunit.

I usually leave a mystery unimpressed if not a little confused. That was not so with A Rare and Deadly Issue. Perhaps it is Thompson's skill with grounding her characters. In this case they are firmly planted in the world of antiquities, old books in particular. The shop in which she works doesn't feel fictional; even the bookstore has a setting: Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley. Oh, to be sure, there is a dash of New York thrown into the mix, even a sprinkle of Glasgow, but wherever Jenny Maguire is, the reader is given a sense she is participating rather than observing.

Of course, along with such a setting comes a bonus. The reader comes to believe in the protagonist, even to trust that little tidbits she's learning are as real as her imagination has made the characters. We learn something about illuminated manuscripts (the Lisbon Bible, the Sarajevo Haggadah) and other information that makes this world literally vibrate with vellum and the musty odors of ancient leather bindings.

Another perk is that a reader may occasionally stumble into a word she doesn't know or doesn't remember. I happen to believe in reading books that make one stretch a bit but I'm usually surprised when it's a word I don't know rather than a fact or philosophy. It gives me confidence that I'm in good hands. I was not disappointed. Thompson's wide interests and travel experience play with one another throughout this book, keeping the reader not only mystified but wholly entertained.

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson is the author of two award-winning books and her new book for authors, THE FRUGAL BOOK PROMOTER: HOW TO DO WHAT YOUR PUBLISHER WON'T, reached top-seller status on its online bookstore only days after it was released. She is an instructor for UCLA Extension's Writers' Program and a former journalist and publicist. Learn more about her at http://carolynhowardjohnson.com.

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