Book Review - Live Bait by P. J. Tracy
Category Book Reviews
I sort of lost track of the mother-daughter writing team of P. J. Tracy after their debut novel Monkeewrench. That was a great crime novel involving high-tech gaming and computer technology. Something put them back on my radar, and I discovered they had two other novels that I had missed. Making up for lost time, I immediately went out and got Live Bait. Very much a fun read...
The Monkeewrench crew (Roadrunner, Harley, Grace, and Annie) is atoning for the "Monkeewrench murders" in Minneapolis by developing a software package that ties together unrelated leads in criminal investigations. Outfitted in a luxurious motor coach, they are planning on traveling the country to try out the software gratis. While they're heading off to Arizona to solve some cold cases, homicide detectives Magozzi and Rolseth are getting bored with the lack of murders in the city. That dry streak comes to an end when a elderly nursery owner is found murdered in the middle of the night in front of one of his greenhouses. His equally elderly wife destroys the crime scene by moving him inside and "making him presentable" before calling the police. As the detectives conduct the investigation, they learn that everyone feels this guy was a near-saint, and nobody can imagine anyone wanting to murder him. The first clue comes in when another elderly lady dies, and they learn that both were Jewish concentration camp survivors. Another murder with the same framework happens shortly thereafter, and the media pressure starts to become intense. What is it that ties together these murders with another seemingly unrelated killing during the same timeframe?
I was a little disappointed that there wasn't as much techno-flash in this book as there was in the Monkeewrench novel. Still, I loved it. The interplay of dialogue between Magozzi and Rolseth is fresh and entertaining, and both characters have some depth to them. The Monkeewrench crew doesn't figure in as much in this story, but they are there in terms of subplot and character growth. And the thought of this particular band of eccentric computer geeks traveling around the country solving crimes opens a wealth of possibilities for additional installments. Definitely an "author" to read if you haven't yet had the pleasure...
I sort of lost track of the mother-daughter writing team of P. J. Tracy after their debut novel Monkeewrench. That was a great crime novel involving high-tech gaming and computer technology. Something put them back on my radar, and I discovered they had two other novels that I had missed. Making up for lost time, I immediately went out and got Live Bait. Very much a fun read...
The Monkeewrench crew (Roadrunner, Harley, Grace, and Annie) is atoning for the "Monkeewrench murders" in Minneapolis by developing a software package that ties together unrelated leads in criminal investigations. Outfitted in a luxurious motor coach, they are planning on traveling the country to try out the software gratis. While they're heading off to Arizona to solve some cold cases, homicide detectives Magozzi and Rolseth are getting bored with the lack of murders in the city. That dry streak comes to an end when a elderly nursery owner is found murdered in the middle of the night in front of one of his greenhouses. His equally elderly wife destroys the crime scene by moving him inside and "making him presentable" before calling the police. As the detectives conduct the investigation, they learn that everyone feels this guy was a near-saint, and nobody can imagine anyone wanting to murder him. The first clue comes in when another elderly lady dies, and they learn that both were Jewish concentration camp survivors. Another murder with the same framework happens shortly thereafter, and the media pressure starts to become intense. What is it that ties together these murders with another seemingly unrelated killing during the same timeframe?
I was a little disappointed that there wasn't as much techno-flash in this book as there was in the Monkeewrench novel. Still, I loved it. The interplay of dialogue between Magozzi and Rolseth is fresh and entertaining, and both characters have some depth to them. The Monkeewrench crew doesn't figure in as much in this story, but they are there in terms of subplot and character growth. And the thought of this particular band of eccentric computer geeks traveling around the country solving crimes opens a wealth of possibilities for additional installments. Definitely an "author" to read if you haven't yet had the pleasure...
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