Let Me Whisper In Your Ear (2005) - Plot & Excerpts
Clark settles in to fine third outing -- but still clutter...We've been reading Mary Jane Clark's newsroom-set mysteries in order, and it appears the "formula" is now firmly set. Again, we have the interesting venue of "Key News", where Clark capitalizes on her real life job at CBS News to give us an inside look at the stresses and glamour of television news producing. In particular, "Whisper" gives us an inside look at "Key's" competition to "60 Minutes" called Hourglass, where the principals will do almost anything in the chase for ratings superiority. We also get the scoop on how TV stations turn out those beautifully crafted video obituaries only hours after the death of a famous person.That latter technique comes into play when the star of Hourglass, Gwyneth Gilpatric, allegedly falls to her death from the roof of her penthouse at her annual New Year's Eve Party. Our ambitious leading lady, Laura Walsh, proceeds from airing an obit prepared in advance to gaining a job on staff at Hourglass, having interned there as a college student. Her first assignment, to produce a retrospective of New Jersey's famous Palisades (Amusement) Park, quickly stirs up intrigue in the form of a 30-year old suspicious death of a young boy there, and the roles of Gilpatric, Laura's father (who used to run the Cyclone at the park), and another boy that survived his friend's death. Another murder or two complete a very intricate plot and reveal a fairly surprising conclusion that wraps up just about everything by page 320. So most will find this a good story, entertaining, informing, and suspenseful enough to keep those pages turning quickly.The part of the formula we don't like are 145 chapters in a book this small, which chop you from scene to scene in just seconds of reading; and Clark's seeming insistence to fill these stories with hundreds of details, characters, and setting changes -- what we call clutter. Axe half the chapter switches and half that unnecessary stuff, and we'd be headed closer to the top shelf of the library instead of the beach book bin. Just our opinion -- otherwise, we're happy!
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