Dead and Blonde: A Meg Darcy Mystery

The second offering in the Meg Darcy P.I. series picks up where CEMETERY MURDERS left off. Darcy gets a late night call from enigmatic police detective Sarah Lindstrom and learns that the cop's ex has been murdered...in Lindstrom's home...in Lindstrom's bed...with a baseball bat. Darcy takes her in for the night. The normally unflappable and distant Lindstrom is stunned and disbelieving. She is a suspect and it's personal, too, so she is not allowed to work with the police on the case. Because of this, she does something totally unexpected and asks Darcy to help investigate the case. The course of the investigation reveals that Lindstrom and Darcy are both in danger, so the grieving cop grudgingly allows Darcy to stay at her house. The combination of stress and anguish makes for a taut and fearful situation for both women as they seek the killer. Meg's wit and longing shine in this installment of the series. It gets bogged down in the relationship angst once or twice in the middle, but very quickly regains steam and takes the reader to a satisfying and slightly unexpected resolution.~Lori L. Lake, Reviewer for Midwest Book Review, and The Independent Gay Writer.

may be the best so far, though there is huge pleasure in tracking the evolving relationship betweem Darcy and Lindstrom from one book to the next. Like its predecessor, it stands out for the clear and unassuming prose style with which the first-person narrative draws us into Darcy's wryly self-deprecating, and surprisingly literate point of view. The cool and accomplished Lindstrom--whose career and safety are put in jeopardy in this story--is a very suitable counterpart to the stubborn and vulnerable Meg. As in the other volumes, the erotic encounters (intense yet handled with a light touch) are skilfully woven into the narrative. With its rich depiction of the St. Louis locales, compares well with Redmann's angstier Micky Knight series (set in New Orleans) and Kate Allen's kinkier Alison Kaine series (set in Denver).