Bad Intent

I've just stumbled across Wendy Hornsby and her protagonist, Maggie MacGowen. My initial reaction was anger: How could I have missed this writer for so long? I've since discovered, however, that a good many people seem to have missed her as well. And that's a shame for all concerned."Bad Intent" is that rarest of creations (or perhaps Hornsby achieves this as a matter of routine, I can't wait to find out): It's a compelling mystery that succeeds equally well as a novel. I found myself gripped with equal intensity by the questions of how to merge two households into one, how to reconcile one's perceptions of a loved one with the day-by-day realities they present, how to pull up stakes and move to a different locale and go about the whole process of starting anew, even the eternal question of how-the-hell-does-a-parent-deal-with-a-budding-adolescent-child?, as well as those usual questions of "whodunnit" or, equally importantly in this book, "whydunnit" and "who-done-what"?Maggie MacGowen is a jewel of a protagonist, outwardly a Berkeley liberal, yet realist enough -- the result, one infers, of a lifetime of experience -- to accept the need for pragmatism as a credo. Toughminded without being hardhearted, smart and hip without succumbing to the lure of cynicism, Maggie steps off the printed page as a person rather than simply a character in a book. She lives, she breathes, she acts. In that order.As do all the characters in "Bad Intent." Hornsby seems simply incapable of creating a single "cardboard" character or locale, let alone a premise. Character, as any writer learns in his/her first class, determines plot, while plot illustrates character; to me it's obvious that Ms. Hornsby has taken this lesson to heart. It's equally obvious that she has researched her characters with a degree of diligence other writers would do well to emulate. Her cops, as one striking example (and of course, most notably, Maggie's lover, Mike Flint), burst forth in all their strengths and flaws; neither saint nor sinner, simply individual people with foibles determined by their upbringings, experiences and reactions to their job. Things happen in this novel; they happen for a reason (and not, as opposed to many mystery/thrillers, simply to provide a body). Questions are asked, and answered. And the reader's interest is maintained throughout. The fact that this interest is maintained to such a high degree is what makes "Bad Intent" the book that it is. And what it is, is -- to put it quite simply -- a book to savor.