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Monday, January 19, 2009

Dead on Arrival

by Jeffery S. Savage

Most of us know Jeffery Savage as Scott Savage, the author of the fabulous fantasy Farworld: Water Keep. Whichever name he uses he tells a good story.

Dead on Arrival is one of two LDS mysteries written by Savage and featuring Shandra Covington. The setting is Salt Lake City, Utah - so if you are looking for a good Utah book for the states reading challenge, this one would qualify. Is there a state capitals reading challenge?

Shandra is a journalism. One day at work she is approached by an older gentleman claiming that he needs her help. His wife is trying to kill him. Only thing is his wife is dead and so is he. Of course, Shandra doesn't put much stock in what this old, and perhaps crazy, person has to say until she later witnesses him fall to his death from a hotel room.

Lots of questions about how the story is going to turn out. I was glued to it from start to finish. About the finish - the basic mystery is cleared up, but something happens that made me want to scream, "Where's the next book!" I just interrupted this post to email the author in hopes of encouraging him to write more mysteries in addition to his fantasy series. I don't want him to neglect his family in acheiving this, but maybe he could quit his day job?!

I highly recommend this one. It's published by Covenant books. If you are concerned about it being an LDS novel, don't be. There's only a minor mention of the church early on. I definitely wouldn't classify this novel as Christian literature. The great thing is there's no vulgarity. I appreciate that. A complex, well-written mystery with no crudeness - isn't that refreshing? Why do some authors feel it's so important to add that?

5 comments:

Framed said...

I would love to read this. Can I borrow it?

Tricia said...

I can't imagine being able to write one good novel, let alone different genres. Sounds good!

Staci said...

I'm not sure why some authors add crudeness to their stories. I can tell you that the book I'm reading right now uses the f-word so much that I'm sick of it...flat out sick of it and I think it totally detracts from the story they are trying to tell. It's a YA book that I'm struggling to read for the YA challenge.

Lisa R.D. said...

I agree--it's refreshing to read a book without crudeness. I like the Maisie Dobbs series for that reason too (I see you are reading An Incomplete Revenge!). I wish more authors would stick to their story development instead of developing such colorful language.

I'll have to check this book out!

Literary Feline said...

This sounds really good! I knew the author had written a mystery series and have been curious about it. Your review came at a good time. :-)