Woman with a Gun by Phillip Margolin

Mystery

Stacy Kim, an aspiring writer, visits an art gallery and sees Kathy Moran's famous photograph. It was taken of a woman in her wedding dress on a beach holding an old pistol. Stacy is inspired. She wants to know what happened before and after this picture and wants to use it as inspiration for a book. It grabs her so much that she uproots herself on the east coast and moves to the west coast, where this happened. From there, we are taken back to when the crime actually happened and how the police and DA responded. A rich man was murdered and burglarized on his wedding day, his wife found wandering on the beach. A DA was brought in externally due to the small town not having much experience in murder cases. The DA knew the photography, Kathy Moran, from a long time ago as Moran was also a lawyer. There's attraction between the two and Moran's history is also explored.

It sounds like there's a lot going on in this book and there is. But it somehow all works. The pieces fit together nicely and the history of the characters and the case is laid out clearly. Sometimes jumping around in time can be confusing for the reader but that wasn't at all the case here. The book wouldn't have worked without this background information so I was appreciative to get it and have it pulled off so well.

The plot itself was engaging and the twist at the end was pulled off. I kept turning the pages to figure out what was going on and try to determine who dunnit! This is one of the most important things for me in a mystery and this book definitely delivered.

I would have liked to like the characters a bit more. I'm not entirely sure why I felt blase about the characters but they were nothing special. It was the plot that drove this book forward.

First Line: "'Wilde, Levine and Barstow, how may I direct your call?'"

Rating:
(4.5/5)