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June 16, 2004
'Sour' has a sweet spot for solving murdersBy TERRI SCHLICHENMEYER Lt. Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels is 40-something and smart, a snappy dresser with a quick mind and well respected on the job. Jack is also tired, plagued by insomnia and annoyed by idiots on the force. And her personal life? Well, Jack has no personal life. Her live-in boyfriend just left her for his trainer. Her favorite hangout is a pool hall where beer is cheap and dinginess reigns. And Jack remembers all too well that she was married once, until marriage took a backseat to the Job. Jack begins to realize that she needs male companionship, and not the kind she gets from her over-eating partner, Herb Benedict. Now something else has happened, and it's more important than getting a lunch date. A woman has been found dead, stuffed into a garbage can near downtown Chicago. She's naked, stabbed, and the killer has left a lacquered cookie and a note calling himself The Gingerbread Man. The killer is smart - or at least thinks he is. He's carefully covered his tracks. He's chosen the girls he wants to kill. He's got a camera and tapes, so he can re-live everything he does. He has a detailed plan, and part of that plan includes Jack. But who is The Gingerbread Man, and why is he on a killing spree? Like most crimes, it takes a big break to solve this case. A big break and the brawn of a slovenly ex-partner who has a favor to return. I have to admit that I didn't like this book at first. Jack Daniels is not like any other fictional cop in any other novel you've ever read. She's not cutesy or girly or scatterbrained, and she doesn't have a funny neighbor to help her solve the madcap crime. Once I got to know her as a character, however, I liked her a lot. I thought The Gingerbread Man was perfectly creepy, but that the crimes he committed were unnecessarily gruesome and perhaps described in a bit too much detail for a novel. Herb Benedict, surprisingly, was my favorite character in this book, and I'm hoping author J.A. Konrath brings him back in the next Jack Daniels mystery. Grab a glass of something cold and settle in. "Whiskey Sour" is an exciting book, with a teasing sort of style that draws you in, and then lets you go for another round. Schlichenmeyer reviews books for the Pahrump Valley Times from her home in Wisconsin. |
