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	Jackie Fleming is a mother of two, grandmother of three. She works as a 'Public Service Specialist' for the county Coroner. Before that she was in the Air Force (Non-Destruction Inspection Specialist and Personnel Technician). She's held numerous part time jobs (she's currently at a funeral home, before that she worked at Block Buster. She's also been a mystery shopper, information operator, and worked fast food. "I know that's not your normal bio, but it is me," says Jackie.   Jackie is a member of the Romance Writers of American and the following RWA chapters: SFA RWA, SV RWA, FTHRW, and RomVet's. She can be reached at jackiesf@yahoo.com.

PATTERNS IN SILICON
Maureen Robb
Drake Valley Press, April 2005, $14.95, 304 pages
ISBN 0-97286186-4-2

Panache, Lea Sherwood’s restaurant, is a successful and thriving business. Even Keith Whitten, Lea’s ex-boyfriend chooses to celebrate his coup, the takeover of Decision Ace, Inc, at her location. Tonight, however, before Keith can more than sample his gourmet dinner, he suffers a seizure, and at the hospital is pronounced dead. The initial investigation determines that he’s been poisoned.

Lea is the San Francisco Police Department’s prime suspect. Every new piece of evidence the police continue to collect points at her. Lea’s motive? Paul Boyd. In Keith’s opinion, Lea broke off their relationship when he introduced her to Paul. It didn’t matter that their breakup was already foreshadowed. Keith was a ‘winner’, Lea was his, and so it should have been him that ended it. Using that reasoning as his vengeance, he took Paul’s company, Decision Ace, Inc.

Newspapers continue to run articles on the death and Lea’s connection to it, and Panache's profits diminish. When Lea's suppliers start providing her substandard meats and produce, and then demand payment on delivery, she fears it is only a matter of time before she’s out of business. Unless Lea investigates the crime herself, the newspaper will continue printing their hypothesis, she’ll lose Panache, and the killer would still be out there.

The police are stonewalled. Money does have its privileges when you’re one of the top revenue making businesses for California tax. Even when the bottom fell out of the market, computer software companies still hold a lot of sway. Not an issue for Lea. It’s convenient, but ironic that Paul Boyd has been assigned as CEO to Keith’s company. She knows some of Whitten employees because of her relationship with Keith and Paul, and some of those are even friends.

The eulogy is over and so is the expression ‘don’t speak ill of the death’. The same ‘elite of Silicon Valley’ that had praised Keith’s ethics and accomplishment at the eulogy, now share his cruel personality. He was not liked by any.

The smooth and well drawn out details in PATTERNS IN SILICON kept my interest. She described the characters and places so well that I could both see them and know them. She inserted sufficient clues and red herrings that I was kept guessing until the end as to who the killer was.

However, I thought Lea’s character was overly opinionated of the press' predisposition to tarnish an innocent person’s reputation, and the rude behavior of police officers incapable of looking further than the obvious criminal bothered me. Also, I felt cheated by the next to last scene. Who were they? All that detail in the book, and then you don’t tell me? True, it doesn’t matter for the story, but I would have liked it.

Jackie Fleming

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