What We're Reading

Book Reviews by the staff of the Mendocino County Library

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Find Me by Carol O'Connell


We have to write about a mystery that ends in Mendocino, even though its place of ending is totally tangential to the story. In the latest Mallory mystery a dead woman is found in Mallory’s apartment. Mallory has gone missing. She has bought a new car, seemingly an ordinary Volkswagen Beetle convertible, silver with a black rag top. Her partner, Det. Riker and others are covering for her absence knowing that if she underwent a psychological exam, she would never be re-admitted to the New York City Police force.

Being Mallory, she comes across a body in Chicago with a hand missing.

This body is at the intersection that is the start of the original Route 66. Mallory is following a description of Route 66. Letters written by her father to O B. Those who know Mallory’s story have watched her develop in previous books by Carol O’Connell from a raw incredibly bright and beautiful sociopath to an incredibly controlled and successful if eccentric young woman.

Also on the trail along Route 66 are the parents of “lost” children. A caravan of hundreds develops as these parents are determined to have their story known. Most have been ignored by the authorities and the stories of their lost children and the hundred graves along Route 66 have been covered up.

A typical Mallory mystery, the trip is as fascinating as the destination.

If you missed the Mallory series, start at the beginning.
Mallory's Oracle
The Man Who Cast Two Shadows
Killing Critics
Stone Angel
Shell Game
Crime School
Dead Famous
Winter House

It is definitely worth the trip!


Eliza Wingate