STEPHANIE LYNCH - MOSTLY MYSTERY REVIEWS
 |
Stephanie Lynch
is one half of the writing team of Marilu Mann and Cai Stephan.
She received her RWA Pro Pin with a double rejection from Tor and
Silhouette. After indulging in chocolate, she dove back in to write
some more. Her team writes Bombshells, Paranormals and Contemporaries
with a distinct preference towards Paranormals. Her reading tastes
run from esoteric to frivolous. She is just as happy reading Carl
Jung as she is Nora Roberts. But don't ask her which is the better
writer. Nora will win every day! |
 |
|
|
||
April 2006
BODYCHECK
Steve Owad
Rendezvous Crime, October 2005
290 pages, $13.95
ISBN 1-894917-22-7
Behn McAvoy has a problem. It isn't that he's playing minor league hockey
in Alberta. It isn't even that his teammates want him gone. His real problem
is that he killed a man. But the man was trying to kill him. Behn starts
on a convoluted journey to find out why someone wants him dead. The cast
of possibilities is long, almost too long, but author Steve Owad pulls
it off.
Owad's first novel shows off his strong writing skills as well as a few
beginner mistakes. This book triggers one of my biggest pet peeves. I
hate short chapters. One is five paragraphs long! I think that Owad's
background as a successful playwright is showing up in his novel. He tends
to divide his chapters into scenes rather than several scenes in one chapter.
There are also a few minor cases of head hopping, but nothing that yanks
you out of the story. But don't let these minor technicalities stop you
from checking out this major-league mystery.
Owad obviously knows his hockey and his hockey professionals. And I loved
how he twisted the minor characters into pretzels and still made them
believable. Particularly well done is his vitamin-popping amateur hit
man who is just this side of a stereotype farce. Owad isn't into giving
things away and obviously enjoys herring, red, as much as the next mystery
writer. I wasn't positive who was the mastermind until the very end.
Your cast of characters includes an ex-wife of three drunken weeks, gamblers,
teammates, and the team owner who doesn't want a murderer on her team.
Her motive is that she wants to sell the hockey teams she owns. Having
a man with Behn's reputation has become a liability. But what about Behn's
teammate who threatened to kill him after a game? And who sent the man
Behn killed in the opening pages? Twists like this will keep you reading
just to see what happens next. And don't rule out anyone until the very
end!
This is an engaging first book by an author who needs to be watched. The
humor creeps up on you making you laugh at the oddest of moments. The
descriptive writing is tight and pulls you into the scene. You know where
you are at all times. This is an emotionally satisfying book as well with
the neatly woven romance between Behn and the strong female character.
But the real question is, when will Owad write again? Now there's a mystery
I'd like solved soon. If you think Mike Hammer on Ice sounds good, then
this is the book for you. Try it out. Let me know what you think. I don't
think you have to be a hockey buff (I am) to enjoy this book. Hockey is
the setting, not the story.
Stephanie Lynch
Stephanie's Archived Reviews
All rights reserved.
Contact Lida: publisher@fmam.biz
Website contact: webmaster @ fmam.biz