Locked In (A Sharon McCone Mystery, 26)

There is no doubt that Marcia Muller is one of the top mystery writers working today. She has the Grand Masters Award from the Mystery Writers of America plus a host of other honors to prove it. However, her army of readers don't need these affirmations to know that a Muller book is going to intrigue and entertain them. Best known for stories featuring private investigator Sharon McCone this author suprises us with her latest, Locked In. McCone has been a top favorite since her debut in 1977; we think we know her pretty well. Nonetheless, this title's opener is a real shocker: on a misty July night in San Francisco McCone's vintage MG runs out of gas. Fortunately, she's not too far from her office on the Pier and she takes off for it on foot. Once at the security grille to the Pier she called for the security guard, Lewis, a problem alcoholic. He's not to be found. She uses her security code to open the door to the Pier's entrance, climbs the stairs to the office's catwalk, and finds the door unlocked. It's dark inside, there's a sudden motion -she is shot. The bullet has entered her brain leaving her in a comatose state known as locked-in syndrome. She cannot speak or move, totally paralyzed and can communicate only by blinking her eyes in response to a question. So, for once McCone is not at the leader of a crime investigation but the center of it as her team rallies, scurrying for clues, determined to find out who shot McCone and why. What this scenario does in the talented hands of author Muller is allow the reader not only to be fascinated as the reasons for the shooting are revealed but also to become better acquainted with the major players in this series as each one turns over every rock searching for the assailant. Of course, McCone series readers are familiar with Hy Ripinsky, partner and husband to McCone yet here he is revealed in utter anguish as he remembers his past and articulates his hopes for a future with McCone. There is Latina Julia Rafael who'd "been hooking and dealing on the tough streets of the Mission district when she was a teenager,"but McCone saw so much more and placed confidence in her, helping Julia to turn her life around. There's Mick Savage, McCone's nephew who had pulled some pretty dumb stunts, but his aunt "had been solid as a rock, taking him seriously, treating him like a man when he was only a kid." He loved her and he owed her. These and others are united by their determination to catch whoever had almost killed McCone. Revelations of what they are finding are interspersed with thoughts running through McCone's mind as she is by turns discouraged, enraged, and bent on somehow escaping the prison that her body has become. For this reader Locked In is the best of the McCone series, and that's saying quite a bit! - Gail Cooke

Fans of Marcia Muller's popular Sharon McCone series have come to expect a good, well-written story, populated with familiar family and friends. Wry humor, crackling banter, thorough investigative techniques and brilliant legal work have all become hallmarks of her mysteries. But it's always a special thrill when a book goes beyond expectations and the author delivers even more. Muller does just that with LOCKED IN. This latest installment in the series immediately pulls the reader into the world of San Francisco, from the salty mist drifting in off the bay to the groan of a distant foghorn. As the book opens, Sharon is hurrying back to her office on the pier to retrieve her cell phone, quickening her steps as night descends. Sounds and echoes of the evening are exaggerated by her surroundings, setting the tone for something ominous to occur. Upon reaching her workplace, the unthinkable happens, and she is shot. When she finally regains consciousness 10 days later, she finds herself paralyzed, unable to speak or move any part of her body except for her eyes. Friends and family alike are not only in shock but enraged, eager to bring whoever shot Sharon to justice. Some are even ready to exact immediate vengeance. And when the investigators attempting to find the culprit begin looking closely at a number of seemingly unrelated cases that Sharon was working on (the death of a young prostitute, the apparent murder/suicide of two top San Francisco politicos, and the missing gay scion of a successful wine-producing family), they find a thread that leads to some questionable practices at Pro Terra, an environmental group seeped in local politics. What does this group have to do with all these dissimilar cases? Are they the ones responsible for Sharon's condition? Sir Walter Scott once said, "Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive." And a tangled web is what the team finds as it fans out to track down who is to blame for Sharon's unfortunate circumstances. All the lies and deceptions practiced by those involved in these overlapping cases make getting to the truth almost impossible. However, it all begins to come together as Sharon becomes a part of the team, using only her eyelids to blink "yes" or "no." The teamwork that has been built up over the years proves itself once again. LOCKED IN is written in bite-sized chapters from each of the main characters' perspectives, making it very fast-paced. So lock yourself in your favorite reading cave and enjoy the latest Sharon McCone mystery. This is one you'll want to read straight through. --- Reviewed by Maggie Harding

In San Francisco private investigator Sharon McCone is returning to her office late at night when she interrupts a burglary in progress. The thief shoots her. When she regains consciousness, McCone finds herself totally paralyzed in a bed at San Francisco General where she realizes she can only move her eyelids by blinking. The staff at her workplace McCone Investigations worries about their boss who is diagnosed with Locked-In Syndrome and taken to specialized Brandt Neurological Institute. Her crew and her spouse Hy Ripinsky look at the recent caseload and communicate with McCone through her use of her eyelids answering yes and no questions even as she is about to undergo emergency surgery. Although the ending is fully expected, this is one of the best McCone thrillers that Marcia Muller has ever written as the sleuth is LOCKED IN her body while trying to help her spouse and her employees solve the cases she was working on which includes the assault. The story line is fast-paced and filled with action, which affirms Marcia Muller's skills as much occurs in the hospital room with the paralyzed heroine. Fans will be spellbound by a frustrated McCone who can only blink her way to help solving the mysteries. Harriet Klausner

Sharon "Shar" McCone has worked so many cases from Private Investigation firm she owns and always thought the best case was the resolved case. But she never thought that she would solve the case that involved her own shooting and all this without a voice but being she is pivotal to solving this crime. This nightmare all starts one night when Shar being at the wrong place at the wrong time results in receiving a bullet to the head. Though her team is frantic for answers and at first scramble for direction they never lose the focus of finding whoever did this to her. While they have to watch Shar in a medically frozen condition known as "locked-in" syndrome where she has rational thought but cannot move or communicate in any fashion. But even without an ability of physical movement or a voice it is apparent that she was going to help them solve the crime and Shar is trying very hard to get someone; especially her husband Hy to hear her and figure out that she has a voice even without words. What Shar has filled her life with multi-faceted family member and friends who she has over the years help save and reconstruct their own lives. Now that it is her turn to be the victim and the crime to be solved everyone in the agency from the top down strives to find the person who shot Shar and bring them to justice one way or another. There is no one on her team from her nephew Mick, her complicated biological and adoptive parents to everyone one at the office. They all share bloodlines whether by relation or devotion to one another. But every time an answer seems to reveal itself another problem arises and when the individual pieces of the case collide headlong into each other it appears there may be more than embezzlement problems at city hall to investigate there may be a traitor amongst the team. How could someone slip past the background check, is it possible that a devoted employee is really a snake in the grass? This long running series has always been a winner but this book has so many twists and a story within the story that you are totally enthralled with the way everything plays out. You go down one road only to hit a dead end but that dead end takes you through the woods where you find evidence that may lead to yet another clue. The multiple point-of-views may distract at first from following the plot but trust me there is not one moment where you feel you are missing any of the action because there is so much of it and allot of people to tell the story. For Shar to go from case solver to the victim completely throws everyone off balance but every member of her team proves they are a group of individuals that can act as one. Mary Gramlich (The Reading Reviewer) [...]

Written with the precision of a master craftsman, Locked In, by Marcia Muller will excite her fans, just as her previous works have stirred and thrilled them in the past. In this book, Detective Sharon McCone is shot in the head by an unknown gunman. The devastating injury leaves her unable to move or speak. She can only blink her eyes in response to questions, but her mind is as sharp as ever. The reader enters Sharon's thoughts and misery as she confronts her fears and her frustration. Is she going to die? Will she be taken off of life support? She cannot communicate, so how can she save herself, or find the person who did this to her? Sharon is on a rollercoaster ride between death and life. Ms. Muller's latest mystery is well-developed, unique, suspense filled, and very moving. It was also a fast read. I finished it within 24 hours.