Drowning in Hot Water

I read the book by accident and found it a fantastic mystery with an extraordinarily interesting plot. I finished it in one day because I could not put it down!! The characters are so well defined that the reader begins to feel a part of them. The plot is tight and extremely well construted, no extra filler just to take up space. This is an author to watch! Take note Book-of-the-Month-Club: Put this one on your list to review - - it will quickly be chosen as the book to read and the author to watch. If you like mysteries, you'll love this one!

In composing his first novel, Patrick Murphy set himself a tricky task - writing from the point of view of a young, sexy, Chicago detective who is also a wife and mother. I'm not sure how female readers would judge how well he met that challenge, but the character he created in Det. Carol Moore sure came across as realistic for me. One reviewer called this novel "fast-paced." Good writing and editing helped to achieve this effect. Murphy's story is told powerfully, concisely and vividly. As Public Guardian of Illinois for over 20 years, Murphy has become intimately familiar with the ins and outs of public child care agencies and the abuses sometimes connected with them. This knowledge makes his story ring true. I look forward to his next venture into the world of fiction.

It's a topsy turvy world where those who should be investigating a little girl's death aren't and the heroine, a Chicago police detective, who has the case of the girl's father's death, gets drawn into a brutal crime and corruption at the highest level. This is a good detective story and a great one if you are familiar with Chicago. Patrick Murphy makes the reader hear, feel and smell the underside of life in Chicago, with stops at biker bars, drab tenements, crowded court houses, as well as quick visits to posh hotels and high powered law firms. You care about his main characters, but the minor ones are cardboard cutouts and seem to have been inserted because he knows people like them and wants to paint them in an unflattering light. The ending is also abit too pat, but the book is fast paced and there is enough to the main characters to develop another novel. I'm looking forward to the next one.

This book was a fast and easy read. The characters are interesting and best of all believable. Anyone who has questioned their job or their relationships will be able to relate to the tired, yet dedicated hero of this story. Sometimes we make the right choices by design and sometimes by accident. Pat Murphy makes them feel personal in this book and throws in some good surprises too. The subject of this or any detective story can sometimes be sad. Knowing that there are still people in the world who want to make it better is encouraging. I hope this is just the first book in a series. I want to meet some of these characters again. And I suspect if Mr. Murphy wants to send a message this may be the best venue.