Misfortune
Nancy Geary
(Reviewer - Narayan Radhakrishnan)
2001 Warner Books
ISBN: 0446610941

Assistant District Attorney Frances Pratt investigates the murder of her stepmother.

Sr. Reviewer - Narayan Radhakrishnan writes:

Lawyer-author Nancy Geary's debut work Misfortune is a regular whodunit. All the ingredients of a potboiler are there, but all in all there isn't much that makes it unique from other whodunits.

Clio Pratt is someone whom you would love to hate. Conniving, cunning, scheming & a person to whom the word "bitch" is most apt to refer. So it comes as no surprise that someone has killed her in the ladies room of a prestigious clubhouse.

Frances Pratt, Assistant District Attorney & stepdaughter, steps in to investigate, & she faces a rather disturbing problem. No person, including her father & sister, has anything nice to say about her stepmother. & suspects are a dozen-a-penny. Frances investigates deep into the matter & comes into knowledge of past family secrets, the ugly truths about her step mom, & realizes that the shock was not in the murder, but only that it took this long to happen. What follows is Pratt's investigation into the crime, & in the final pages the murderer is revealed.

Misfortune is an average thriller. The fascinating aspect of the work is the plot situation -- the lifestyle of the rich and famous -- the snobbishness, bitchiness etc., in one level seen in the works of Jackie Collins (minus, thankfully, the erotica) & in a different level in the works of Victoria Holt. It's seldom in legal thrillers that we find such a background in plot setting.

Frances Pratt is a spunky character & has all the features of a series protagonist. I wouldn't be surprised if a Frances Pratt mystery hits the stand in the near future.

Though it's about 500 pages in length, the easy & engaging style of narration makes it a good read. A connoisseur of thrillers & whodunits might find the mystery ordinary, however, to an occasional reader of thrillers, Misfortune will provide a wonderful read.
(08/18/02)

Narayan
2002©Narayan Radhakrishnan
A RebeccasReads.Com Sr. Associate Reviewer

Reviewer's Bio:
I am a 26 years old lawyer practicing in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India. Along with my legal practice, I have finished post-graduate studies for both Business Law & Human Rights. I am a self proclaimed numero-uno legal thriller lover & am the proud owner of all of Grisham's & Turow's novels. I enjoy John Mortimer's Rumpole & relish an occasional Martini & a rare Scot(ch)t-oline with a Patterson on the side.

My work A FICTION OF LAW is now about 500 pages in length & features 500 lawyer authors & 2000 legal thrillers covering a 300 year period - inclusive of entries from the USA, UK, Asia, Europe, China, Middle East etc. Still in search of a publisher.
www.keralatourism.org