The Nicely-Heeled Murders

Morgan McRain is not a detective, but definitely she has witnessed enough episodes of Murder, She Wrote to know the standard Murder she wrote looking for clues and deducing the guilty celebration from a checklist of suspects. So when the workplace mate of a colleague is found lifeless and barefoot on her psychiatric couch--the victim of a really resilient pair of pantyhose--Morgan quickly shifts her remedy practice to the back burner, puts on her imaginary hounds tooth cap and joins the hunt for the murderer, revealing in the process the seamier facet of a few certified specialists.

The Nicely-Heeled Murders could pass for a treatment of a politically-appropriate MSW script--had Jessica Fletcher been a lesbian with a lifestyle companion, daughter, and homosexual "brother-in-law"/nanny. Nonetheless, the addition of a green detective, Sam Reynolds, with the hots for the male nanny (how practical!) and a subplot involving the murderer's obvious shoe fetish and a restricted-knit groups of swingers, and the tale is offered a twist of which would incite the envious natures of Aaron Spelling.

Morgan, obtaining maintained some degree of civility with members of the exceptional swingers group (so exclusive it doesn't have a title) of which the victim was a member, agrees to help Sam in tracking the killer, and eventually outshines the detective in the two the brawn and mind departments. Hartman helps make it distinct that this is Morgan's circumstance from the start--selected chapters even lend the possibility that Morgan is a bit more established than the total Portland, Oregon police pressure to catch the killer, and that Sam is just around to bounce off dialog and flirt with the brother-in-law.

Hartman has the potential of developing an interesting mystery sequence with the Morgan McRain character--Morgan is witty, smart, and has the same scrappy, down-to-earth charm that has endeared visitors to the likes of Kinsey Millhone and V. I. Warshawski. Supporting characters--Morgan's companion and prolonged "family"--lend the warmth of a cozy residence to which Morgan can regroup and bind any wounds attained from hazardous detecting. What ever the person's sexual preference, the characters are portrayed as earnest individuals in a plot that holds up nicely. Well-Heeled is properly-honed.

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