Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Sketch A Falling Star-Sharon Pape

Sketch A Falling Star


Sharon Pape

Berkley, Mar 6 2012, $7.99

ISBN: 9780425246696



Former police artist Rory McCain has become a private investigator with a very unusual partner, Zeke the ghost. He wants her to solve his cold case of who murdered him by stabbing him in the back as he was about to kill a deadly psychopathic murderer of five girls. She is in Arizona doing research into Zeke’s case when her Aunt Helene calls and asks her to come to the hotel where she is staying with the Way Off Broadway Players.



A flash flood caught the troupe in its torrential grip; member Preston Wright died. The official ruling is accidental death, but the victim’s mom hires Rory to determine whether her son was murdered. She further explains his real name was Brian Carpenter, a scam artist who destroyed many lives under different alias around the country; his enemy count being stratospheric. Ironically Brian’s mother does not want her son’s killer arrested as she understands what her offspring did, but needs closure. Rory is determined to solve this case without Zeke’s help unlike their previous collaborations (see Sketch Me if You Can and To Sketch a Thief). However, as she learns each of the players and support cell had solid motives to murder Preston, Zeke insists he has her back.



The third A Portrait of Crime Mystery is a delightful paranormal mystery due to the charming abnormal relationship between the ghost and the sleuth. While the focus is on Rory’s investigation, Zeke’s past story is sprinkled deftly throughout the enjoyable storyline; providing a somewhat comparison between past and present. Readers will sketch a portrait of a writer with a hit series on her hands.



Harriet Klausner



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