#18 in the Sharon McCone series. The main plotline of Sharon being asked to find her old flight instructor's significant, other followed by the flight instructor being murdered and Sharon and her lover Hy deciding to find her killer is an excellent addition to the series. Also satisfying is the secondary story of holidays and missed holidays with her co-workers and her brother-in-law's family.Her nieces and nephews are beginning to adjust to their parent's breakup and to accept Sharon's co-worker Rae's involvement with their father.San Francisco PI Sharon McCone loses a good friend and picks up a long, twisted trail of murders. Sharon's former flight instructor, Matty Wildress, dies in an aerobatics plane crash soon after asking Sharon for help. The man Matty loves, John Seabrook, has suddenly vanished, leaving his 11-year-old son, Zach, behind, and warning Matty to disappear, too. Sharon and her lover, Hy Ripinski, understanding that the crash was no accident, dig into Seabrook's background. Sharon's computer-savvy nephew, Mick, traces him to Florida, where he had pulled a similar vanishing act 10 years ago after his wife was shot to death. His trail leads to an Arkansas aircraft factory with sidelines in drugs and murder. The amoral boss there, Dunc Stirling, has also dropped out of sight. Believing that Stirling may lead them to Seabrook and to Matty's killer, Sharon and Hy call upon their best flying skills as they follow this theory deep into frozen northern woodlands.
I can't imagine how it happened but I totally had forgotten about Sharon McCone. Muller's long running series (I think, actually, she started the whole female private eye craze) has long featured Sharon McCone - a totally likable private detective. I read all of the early ones (there are about 18) but somehow fell off the wagon about 4 books ago. So, even though, I'm sadly lacking in background details, I found Both Ends of the Night an excellent story. Sharon is asked by her flight instructor to find her missing boyfriend. How do you find someone who not only is hiding but has no past? But he does have a small son whom he left behind. Muller passes up many many cheap shots and plot ploys and I really appreciate that. Can't wait to read the 3 I missed!
What do You think about Both Ends Of The Night (1998)?
Sharon McCone and her husband Hi, while looking for the person or persons who murdered their good friend Mattie, learned that Mattie’s boyfriend, John Seabrook and his son Zach, were in the witness protection program. With Mattie dead, they had nothing to go on until Sharon finds a clue in one of Mattie’s flight books. What I like about the Sharon McCone’s series is the way McCone solves her cases and how much I learned about flying planes. Jean Reed Bahle tells the story with passion and compassion.
—Vannessagrace Vannessagrace
This is the first novel in the series that I really got into.A friend asks Sharon to find her missing lover, who disappeared a week earlier. Before Sharon can make any progress on the case, the friend is killed in a grisly accident. Sharon, now driven by her friend’s death, keeps digging and uncovers crimes going back more than a decade.Perhaps it was the story itself or maybe I’m finally connecting with Sharon McCone (an important part of liking any book or series in my opinion) that caused the change.Whatever it was, it made me want to read more in this series.
—Quillracer
In the 17th installment of Marcia Muller's Sharon McCone PI series, Both Ends of the Night, Sharon returned to solve another shocking mystery. For this storyline, Sharon's flight instructor for help, when his love had gone missing. During an airshow, he crashed and died in the flight. Convinced it was no accident, she followed leads to find his lover, talk to his son, and bypass the authorities. Together, Sharon and Hy would travel across the USA to discover corruption between the government and a major corporation that would take straight to the heart of the killer.
—Kristen
