Death Spiral

Although Leo McFarlin is young, being a PI is his 3rd career choice after having started out as a baseball player, then a stint as a reporter. PI work suits him and he's making a living. Now he's been hired to protect a threatened young figure skater. Someone doesn't want Debbie Liston to compete. In the process of looking at Debbie's life and that of Irene, her pushy mother, Leo finds the body of the rink manager and becomes a target himself, is shot at and nearly killed. It's an absorbing story that I read in one day. Unlike many PIs who are fond of too much alcohol and womanizing, Leo is an engaging and likeable young man. He has an older sister, a TV journalist, who'd like him to have some other career, a rocky relationship with his father who wanted a son that was a pro-ball player, an efficient and attractive secretary that he can't romance because she's married. The locale is the Washington, D.C. area. The setting in the world of figure skating is interesting both to fans of the sport and those who are only vaguely aware of it. The ending was a knockout surprise, a treat, because I've read so many mysteries that I usually can forsee the conclusion, but not this time. I'm hoping there are going to be many more Leo McFarlin stories.

Clyde Linsley has written a highly entertaining first novel, a tasty little tale best devoured in one or two sittings so you can concentrate on the trail of clues followed by youthful private eye Leo McFarlin. With only about 210 pages to work with, Linsley fashions a fully developed character in McFarlin, a young man working on his third career and with a special reason to empathize with teenage figure skater Debbie Liston, the target of death threats if she does not give up competitive skating. Hired to protect Debbie by her mother, once a highly promising young skater herself, McFarlin soon finds himself in more danger than his client. I must confess to having more than an impartial interest in this book: Clyde Linsley is a longtime friend and former colleague at the Hartford Times. So I certainly want "Death Spiral" to be successful. And I'm happy to say that, after reading it, I can recommend it with a clear conscience. Way to go, Clyde!

This book provides basic insight into the world of ice skating for someone whose only knowledge of competitive skating comes from the Nancy Kerrigan - Tonya Harding affair.Linsley writes in the style of an early Robert Parker but without the extraneous trips into the culinary world.Althoug there is some predictability, this novel has some unpredictabilities. The characters are given identities that we all can recognize. As a first novel, it gives a hope for future adventures of the investigator, Leo McFarlin.