The Watson Evidence (A Detective Laura McCallister Lesbian
Mystery #4)
By Rosalyn Wraight
July 14th 2011
Mystery/Detective/Lesbian/Contemporary
281 pgs
Pub: Don't Waste Daylight
In recent weeks, two
teenage boys have jumped to their deaths from Granger Bridge, and now, another
one is missing. Detective Laura McCallister is frustrated and desperate to find
a way to stop the deadly succession.
Meanwhile, a County
deputy summons her to the hospital with the hope that she can ID an unconscious
accident victim. After surviving a fiery wreck, the woman’s only possessions:
$10,000 cash, and McCallister’s business card in her back pocket. Is there ever
a good reason to have a detective’s business card?
Not knowing who the
woman is, McCallister waits for the mystery to solve itself with the woman’s
awakening. But, things don’t prove quite that simple. In fact, they become so
convoluted that McCallister must endure some of the darkest moments of her
life. This time, the mystery exists inside her own self, and the skills she
instinctually relies upon for resolution seem far beyond her capabilities.
I started reading this particular detective series a couple
of years ago and all have been reviewed here on LVLM or Goodreads in case
you’re curious. I happen to be really fond of Laura McCallister as a character
and have enjoyed reading these books due to it. This book was good as well
even though I had some minor issues with it.
Unlike in the last three books, this story revolves mostly
around Laura’s personal life, rather than some mystery or case she’s working
on. Although a mystery she’s gotten sucked into and her personal life are
connected in this case.
On the one hand, I liked this because there is more detail
about a character I like. Kind of like when you like someone and you want to
know more about them. However, for the purposes of the story as a whole, I felt
sometimes there was too much personal emoting/dialogue that left the plot and
mystery part, the exciting part really, lacking.
I was really sucked in by the first part of the book. There
are several mysteries going on that Laura is dealing with that piqued my
curiosity about what’s going on. It starts out as a traditional detective
novel, which I liked. There’s been a succession of teenage suicides on a local
bridge that Laura wants to stop, and a woman who was in an accident and has
amnesia is found to have Laura’s business card on her.
The main mystery going on is the amnestic woman, even though
the rash of suicides is how the book starts out. Although it’s not really a
case that Laura needs to work on, because of this woman having Laura’s business
card, Laura tries to figure out what’s going on with her. As Laura tries to
help the woman remember anything about who she is, she comes to a painful
conclusion that throws her into a lot of emotional turmoil as she’s pulled
into her own painful past. This in turn causes her to make a rookie mistake
that almost kills her. She is then forced to deal with long suppressed
feelings, which she doesn’t want to do.
OK, so that story line was very intriguing to me. It
unfolded slowly enough to keep up mystery and tension. However, how it all
resolved and come to a head still left me with many questions about why some
characters acted the way they did. Some of it just didn’t make any sense to me,
or seemed illogical. A little more psychological motivation of the
other characters would have helped I think. Laura’s personal journey is
interesting though, and that kept me going.
The other mystery story line also left me wondering what
that was all about. I kept thinking there was going to be a linkup between the
two threads or some other connection to the main plot, but that didn’t happen. I
felt there should have been some explanation as to why it took up as much book
space as it did since there seemed to be a suggestion of possibly something
more sinister going on. I think this would have been a cleaner, neater story if
that part had been left out since it distracted a bit from the focus of the
book. But YMMV.
It’s actually kind of hard to categorize this book. I can’t
say it’s really a mystery because it doesn’t solely focus on the mystery in the
traditional mystery/detective book sense. I can’t say it’s a romance on any
level, but a lot of the dialogue between Laura and Holly, her partner, is about
their relationship, their life together and Laura’s emotional state. It
bordered on being a little too mushy for my taste. But I can’t be nitpicky about that because I do
feel that a lot of readers will love that; will love the expressions of a deep
emotional connection between them.
Overall though, I enjoyed this book. It flows nicely and at a
fast pace, and there is just enough intrigue to keep it interesting and
compelling to read. Laura grows as a person quite a bit in this story, which
also added to my enjoyment. I hope there’s another Laura McCallister book
coming; I’ll definitely read it.
Heat Level: 0
Rating: Really liked
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