Third in this series featuring San Francisco PI Sharon McCone. Sharon discovers the body of a client and old friend who had asked to meet her in a house he was in the process of restoring. She is then hired by the man who owns the house in the hope that she can solve the crime and clear the name of his business. The investigation then leads back to another murder three years previously in the same house, and a missing Tiffany lamp, a valuable stained glass featuring characters from Alice in Wonderland.As Sharon starts digging up dirt on the people involved with the Victorian preservation business, she discovers that many people had a motive for one or another of the murders, and that she likes a lot of the people and doesn't want to believe they had anything to do with it. On a personal note, her relationship with Lt. Greg Marcus also deepens, although as always during the investigation they rankle each other mightily. Considering the age of this book, it has stood the test of time surprisingly well and I look forward to getting to know Sharon even better as I continue the series. The reader (Laura Hicks) had a calming voice and read the book competently, although her male voices all tend to sound somewhat the same.
This was an average book that I think could have been better. The plot was pretty good, the setting was interesting and the main characters were solid, but the book turned out average. Why? The story is written in the first-person but I never feel any emotion from the central character. Everything that happens is written in an even, sketchy manner that does not let me get close to the character. The story feels detached, the emotions second hand. There is no sense of immediacy. There is also a problem with the male characters surrounding the female protagonist. They are a bit one-dimensional, inconsistant and cantankerous for no particular reason. That being said, this is an early novel by one of my favorite authors. Everyone has to learn their trade and it's a credit to her that she was this good this early in her writing career and that she continued (and I imagine continues) to hone her writing skills.
What do You think about The Cheshire Cat's Eye (1990)?
Sharon is growing on me. I wasn't sure I liked her in the first couple of books. Now I find her charming. It all starts when Jake, an old friend and client asks her to meet him at an old victorian house he's renovating. Jake is known for painting these victorian houses bright gaudy colors, which disturbs renovation purists who think the old victorians should be painted grey. When Sharon arrives she finds Jake dead, obviously murdered. When the owner of the house hires Sharon to find out what happened to poor Jake. Sharon soon discovers that her case deals with an unsolved homicide from years earlier.
—Marci
It was interesting to me to come to this 3rd book in the Sharon McCone series directly after the 4th one (Games to Keep the Dark Away) because that's one of my favorites in the series, and this one...isn't.Despite being about SF's famed "Painted Ladies" and the romance of architecture in general, this book felt much less polished than its successor. The mystery unfolds in fits and starts, and parts of it felt like McCone was turning into the suspects' therapist. There's a whole murder in here that really never gets a second look, which was strange. But at the same time, Muller has Sharon tackle thorny race and gender issues and be honestly uncomfortable with what she finds and uncomfortable with her own unresolved politics, which was challenging and refreshing. I disliked her romantic involvement with homicide inspector Greg, but I found it interesting nonetheless.Basically even a lesser Sharon McCone still comes in strong. There's a reason this series is a classic.
—Oddmonster
Still watching the evolution of Marcia Muller's PI Sharon McCone. In this one the focus is on the restoration of the Victorian 'ladies' and the preservation of houses in general. I enjoy seeing San Francisco through McCone's eyes even though I'm not that familiar with the city. At last she got together with Marcus and had some liberated sex. It's funny how morals were changing then and how dated some ideas seem when you look back 30 years. I like this series, but it seems a lot grittier than other female detective series.
—Marsha
