Friday, September 03, 2010

Book Review: Dead Air

 Dead Air, by Mary Kennedy, is a book in the “Talk Radio Mystery” series. It’s not Kennedy’s first book, however. She’s written forty books, although not all of them in this series.

Here’s the back cover blurb for Dead Air:
Maggie left her clinical practice in Manhattan to move to sunny Cypress Grove, Florida, where she became the host of WYME’s On the Couch with Maggie Walsh. From codependent wives to fetish friends, all the locals love her show, but Maggie is not fond of all of its occupational hazards.

Threats start pouring in against one of the station’s special guests, self-styled New Age prophet Guru Sanjay Gingii. And when on the threats becomes a deadly reality, Maggie’s new roommate, Lark, is surprisingly the prime suspect. Maggie has to prove lark innocent while dealing with a killer who needs more than just therapy.
Even though the protagonist, Maggie Walsh, is a psychologist, in this book, she dishes out little advice. She does, however, get immediately involved in the murder mystery. She’s determined to prove Lark innocent, even though Lark looks quite guilty and the detective out to arrest Lark looks quite delicious.

After several near misses on her own life, Maggie teams up with her mother, a B-movie actress who remembers all her parts and lines from TV and movies, even the gigs she didn’t actually appear in. Together, they’re something of a hoot. Even more important, they’re the yin and yang of a good detective team.

Dead Air is a fast and well-written read. I liked that Maggie, with her mother’s assistance, solves the crime. Although there’s a good-looking officer investigating the murder, he doesn’t step in and take the lead. It’s Maggie all the way.

Kennedy includes enough possible suspects to keep the reader guessing. She also takes the reader from the little town of Cypress Grove to South Beach Miami, from the radio studio where Maggie hosts her show and interviews people to a creepy trailer in a run-down trailer park.

She kept me turning pages. I give Dead Air by Mary Kennedy a Hel-Lo!, ‘cause she’s a new-to-me author and one I’ll look for again.
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FTC Disclaimer: This book was autographed and sent to me by the author, but that’s not why I’m recommending it, nor did it influence my review. I read and reviewed it because Maggie, the protagonist, and I are a lot alike. Maggie is young and beautiful. Okay, we’re not so similar there. Maggie has a talk show and I have kids, so we both have folks telling us their problems. Maggie has a cop who suspects her of murder. I have a husband who suspects I know how to cook (but doesn’t have proof yet). Maggie has a mother who’s a little off kilter, but fun loving and a pretty good partner in crime solving. I have friends who are fun loving, off kilter, and, if I asked them to break into a ratty trailer guarded by snarling dogs the way Maggie asked her mother, they’re run like hell…to get flashlights, mace, and wine.

22 comments:

  1. Somebody should compile all your disclaimers into a book- perhaps someone already is!
    And you've made me want to pick the book up.

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  2. Thanks for the review, and the giggle! I'm pretty sure I like your friends.

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  3. Dead Air is a fun read. It moves quickly and keeps you interested.

    Thanks Rayna and Liza. I don't know about compiling my disclaimers, but I do want to go back and make my own list of them, just to see what I've written.

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  4. Not sure my comment went through (computer woes here) but just wanted to thank you for the terrific review! I had great fun writing the book--I used all my psych experience and my radio experience. I was never a talk show host like Dr. Maggie (I wish!) but I was a copywriter at a radio station in Nashville Tenn. Maggie is having more adventures in REEL MURDER, the current release in the series. LOLA snares a part in a movie, Maggie gets a job as a script consultant (it's a psychological thriller) and Maggie and Lola are together on the set. Fun! Thanks again.

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  5. Another awesome disclaimer and a great review of Dead Air. I think I'll go pick up a copy!

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  6. Score a perfect ten for the disclaimer!

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  7. I'm leaning toward the suggestion Helen publish a book of her disclaimers!

    Great review--sounds like a good read!
    Sylvia Dickey Smith

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  8. OK, this settles it – I have to find a speed reading course as I’m adding another of your reviewed books to my want-to-read list. Once again, I loved your disclaimer.

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  9. Thanks for the review, Helen!

    Wow, 40 books! I'm so impressed.

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  10. Enjoyed your review. This sounds like a great read and I'm definitely adding it to my 'got to get' list. Thanks.

    Mason
    Thoughts in Progress

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  11. Mary, the next one sounds like fun. I like the way Maggie and her mother interact.

    Y'all are very sweet, but, seriously, who would read a book of disclaimers, except the FTC investigators?

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  12. Very glad to hear all the nice words about DEAD AIR. 34 of my books were YA (young adult) and MG (middle grade) novels for Scholastic. Then 3 YA's for Penguin and now my first venture into adult mystery writing. So it's wonderful to get some good feedback, I really appreciate it. Writing mysteries is new territory for me--loads of fun.

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  13. Hi, Mary,

    Its good to see you here. I enjoyed DEAD AIR as well as your quirky characters, and look forward to more . . .

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  14. Forty books - I'm impressed!

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  15. That many books is astounding!

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  16. We should all have friends like yours. Mine would just get multiple bottles of wine and talk me out of the adventure, or perhaps I should say crime.
    I love books where the mother and adult daughter have a strong relationship.

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  17. This doesn't really sound like my kind of book, but your disclaimer was well worth the read. :)

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  18. Love you honest disclaimer. You're quite a funny person. I think the book sounds like a fun read. Will add it to my TBR list.
    CD

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  19. Mary is a virtual friend of mine--nice lady as well as a great writer! What a wonderful review. :)

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  20. I'm impressed by anyone who has written 40 books. And the cover cool cool, almost like you, Helen >;)

    Cold As Heaven

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  21. I like your rating scale "Hel-Lo" is so much nicer than a number of stars!

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