The Smoking Gun

Reporter Nell Mathews and her boyfriend Mike Svenson are back in their third mystery, and an outstanding one it is. Nell Matthew and Mike Svenson are helping out at a Women's Shelter. While there, a man arrives and forces past Nell to see Patsy who runs the Shelter. In an attempt to stab Patsy, Mike is forced to shoot the intruder. This leads to problems for Mike since the person he just shot isn't your ordinary wife abuser and his wife isn't your ordinary abused spouse. Mike is traumatized from the shooting, so Nell takes to sleuthing on her own. This leads her to suspect the shelter director of some shady, extra-curricular business and Mike's mother might be of covering it up. I know spousal abuse has been used many times in mysteries, but Ms. Sandstrom takes it a step further with some informative information and I found this fascinating. Readers can expect a storyline with a reporter's insight, some interesting facts about women's shelters, and a mystery that will take them in many directions to one superb conclusion.

The third in a series, this book takes a look at the consequences of the shooting by an off duty police officer who is forced to kill to prevent another from being killed. While I enjoyed the mystery of what exactly happened and why the attack occurred, the truly fascinating part of this book was the look at the consequences of the shooting by the off duty officer and how it impacted on him and the people who cared about him. Usually the focus of a mystery is on the capture of the killer. I felt that this book focused on the character of the policeman caught up in the tragedy of another. I could not put this book down and highly recommend it to all.

Nell Matthews and Mike Svenson have a complicated love relationship. Both are adept at trickery in order to survive in their professions. Nell works as a newspaper reporter and Mike is a policeman. Sometimes their quest for information and promises of confidentiality conflict with the natural expectation of honesty within a relationship. In The Smoking Gun, Sandstrom does a superb job of weaving enough clues to create a page turner that keeps the reader guessing "who done it" until the very end. Issues of old money versus labor, domestic violence committed by law enforcement officers, right versus the law, and the effects of the trauma of killing a person in the line of duty engage the intellectual reader.

Grantham Gazette reporter Nell Mathias and her boyfriend police officer Mike Svenson help honor the opening of the new women's shelter when a tragedy occurs. A man wielding a knife attacks the shelter director Patsy Raymond forcing Mike to kill the culprit. The renowned hostage negotiator has had to kill someone for the first time in over a decade. Mike and Nell are shocked by the incident. However Neil's shock turns to fear for Mike when the deceased is identified as the son of Enid Philpott Howard, the most powerful individual in town. She expects the matriarch to cause trouble for Mike.Instead, Mrs. Philpott blames Patsy for her son Paul's death, blaming the woman for harassing her son and daring him to kill her. The next day someone kills Paul's wife Cherilyn. Patsy blames herself for the woman's death, as she never returned Cherilyn's frantic call. Patsy denies calling Paul while there is no evidence that Cherilyn called the shelter. Nell begins her own sleuthing, which places her in danger from the killer.THE SMOKING GUN deals with two major social issues. They are the need for women's shelters and the traumatic aftermath of a police officer using his weapon. The two issues excitingly intertwine into the main story line. That, along with excellent characters, makes Eve K. Sandstrom's mystery a triumphant and educational tale deserving best seller status.Harriet Klausner