Reviewer: Connie Payne
Title: Dead Copy - 2nd Cauley MacKinnon Mystery
Author: Kit Frazier
Publisher: Midnight Ink
ISBN-13: 9780738709598
Release Date: May 2007
Genre/Sub-genre: Mystery
Year/Setting: Present day - Austin TX
Overall Rating: 4.0
Sexual Content Rating: Sensual
Language (Profanity/Slang) Content Rating: Moderate+
Violent Content Rating: Moderate with Intense moments/scenes
Kit's Website:
www.kitfrazier.com
At the moment Cauley MacKinnon is known as "Obituary Babe", but she’s hopeful she’ll work her way to the City Desk. Soon. Preferably yesterday, but in the meantime she does a favor for FBI agent, Tom Logan (she wishes she can make something happen with him!). He’s protecting Wiley "Puck" Puckett, a federal witness, and needs a fake obit written complete with fake picture. If the powers that be (Selena Obregon of El Patron) think he’s dead, they can rest easy and get him to the courthouse to testify.
That’s all well and good for Puck, but Cauley is attacked in her own home and left with a gift. A dead canary. Translation: Sing, she’s dead. But she takes care because she plans to sing her heart out. Come the day to testify, it becomes obvious that someone didn’t buy the whole fake obit decoy, because Puck is gunned down on the courthouse steps.
Now things begin to escalate; there are rumors of an impending gang war between El Patron and the Syndicate; Puck’s sister, Faith, has gone missing; the person(s)/gang(s) behind Puck’s death are at large, and there’s something smarmy going on in Dawes County. Cauley’s not one to sit back and wait for answers or things to happen. She makes them happen. With the help of her friends, they soon they get to the bottom of things, which in turn raises more questions, which leads to them landing in some deep…trouble.
Dead Copy takes up shortly after Scoop leaves off. Maybe that’s why there were times when things became a bit confusing with references to prior incidents or times when it was hard to keep people and their association to Cauley or the gangs straight. Perhaps that’s what made it hard for me to connect with her and the story in the beginning. Whatever the cause, there came a scene where the connection clicked into place and I could hardly put the book down from there.
Cauley is a bit (maybe more than a bit) impulsive, yet it’s her sense of justice, of empathy for the underdog that spurs her into action. The action is at times intense, keeping you on the edge of your seat and your emotions involved. Yet a bit of wit and an impending romantic relationship tempers the story from being too intense.
Dead Copy is intended to capture the reader’s interest and imagination. Drama, intrigue, humor, action, and romance are deftly intermingled within the pages. Kit Frazier knows how to create characters and a puzzle of a story that leaves the reader wanting more.
Connie
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