Book: Homicide in the House: Washington Whodunit #2
Basic Information:
Author: Colleen J. Shogan
Edition: epub on Libby from the Los Angeles Public Library
Publisher: Camel Press
ISBN: 258
Start Date: July 20, 2023
Read Date: July 23, 2023
258 pages
Genre: Fiction, Mystery
Language Warning: None
Rated Overall: 3 out of 5
Fiction-Tells a good story: 3 out of 5
Fiction-Character development: 3 out of 5
Synopsis (Caution: Spoiler Alert-Jump to Thoughts):
Kit Marshall now works for Representative Dixon from North Carolina. Dixon finds a very important staffer killed with the Speaker’s gavel. She is the prime suspect. Kit tracks down the the murderer from very little clues. At the end she is associated and abducted by the murderer. She manages to free herself and gets the murderer apprehended.
Cast of Characters:
- Maeve Dixon-Freshman representative from North Carolina, accused of murder of Jack Drysdale. Ex-military. Very literal.
- Kit Marshall-Maeve Dixon’s Legislative Director
- Dan-Chief of Staff for Maeve Dixon’s office. Naive and easily panicked.
- Jack Drysdale-Chief of Staff for the Speaker of the House, most powerful Congressional staffer, terse and somewhat a bully. Murder victim
- Jordan Macintyre-Jack Drysdale’s husband. Popular chef
- Doug Hollingsworth-live-in boyfriend of Kit Marshall
- Meg Peters-friend of Kit Marshall
- Judy Talent-chief of staff of a powerful representative, rival of Drysdale
- Trevor-intelligent semi-friend of Kit Marshall. Lobbyist for a powerful defense contractor
- Trent Roscoe- assistant to the Sergeant of Arms for the House of Representatives
- Gareth Pressler-Sergeant of Arms for the House of Representatives
- Detective O’Halloran-investigating murder of Jack Drysdale
- Hill Rat-an anonymous blogger who mysteriously knew everybody’s secret
- Clarence-Kit and Doug’s beagle
- Melinda Gomez-Former student of Doug. Assistant Superintendent in the press gallery
Thoughts:
Shogan does good descriptions of life in Washington DC and particularly the Capitol area. She should. She worked as a Congressional staffer before becoming head of the National Archives.
The author continues what she does in the first book-naming all the great, and not so great, detective sleuths she can think of.
The adversarial relationship between Doug and Meg seems forced and contrived.
Places Mentioned:
- Tortilla Coast-Popular place. Closed down at the start of the pandemic.
- We the Pizza-Spike Mendelohn place
- Green Pig Bistro
- Pete’s Diner
- Tune Inn
- Hawk n’ Dove
Chapter One
Sets the scene that the Federal Government is about to shut down because there is an impasse between the the parties in Congress and the President. It is a time of rising tensions.
Homespun constituents-What is this? What is she talking about? Almost sounds derogatory towards the people whom a Congressperson is representing.
Dixon was getting pressure to toe the party line. She wanted to make sure her District was behind her. Kit was appointed lead to talk to the Speaker’s office.
Chapter Two
Day one of the shutdown. Kit gets to the office early after a long night at the office.
Chapter Four
Congressperson Dixon would listen to the Speaker's proposal, but say she will consider it-that is Kit’s plan. In the meantime, Clarence, Kit and Doug’s dog was being entered in a dog popularity contest. While Dixon met with the Speaker, Kit was meeting with Drysdale. Drysdale was putting the vote in a political perspective rather than a how is this responsible way to spend. Drysdale was unsatisfied with Kit’s answer. He confronts Dixon. Is not happy with Dixon either. He confronts her and there is even a physical element to it.
Members of the majority party in the House of Representatives took turns serving as the presiding officer of floor debate. Freshmen spent more time “in the chair” than senior legislators. Dixon was tapped to serve here while the Speaker was away.
Chapter Five
Kit is told that Dixon is in trouble. Meet her in the Capitol Rotunda. When Kit finds her there, 30 minutes after getting the message. Detective O’Halloran is there with Dixon. Drysdale is there, dead.
Chapter Six
Dixon is the leading suspect: motive-the fight yesterday, opportunity, and weapon-the Speaker’s gavel. Kit talks to O’Hallaron. Dan, her boss, and Dixon’s chief of staff, assigns Kit the task of solving the murder.
Chapter Seven
Two possible suspects: Judy Talent-Drysdale chief rival-and Gareth Pressler-Sergeant of Arms, whom Drysdale turned down the request for security reforms. Meg adds Jordan Macintyre to the list of suspects
Reason why Dixon was at the Rotunda that morning was that Dan had gotten a message saying it was from Jack to meet him at the Rotunda. It was a set up. The call was made from the Capitol Visitor Center.
Chapter Eight
The question Shogan asks is why would this call be placed to Dan from the Visitor Center? Why not Kit? And who placed the call? My question is, why didn’t Dan come forward to Dective O’Halloran and show him the phone? And why didn’t the police look at the tapes to see who was in the Visitor Center then? Seems rather weak to me.
Kit talks to Melinda. They met in a Cafeteria for a snack and information. Shogan’s comment is that It takes forever to make a difference around here.[Congress] … congressional achievements were measured not in days, months, or even years, but decades. Interesting divergent thoughts from Shogan. Do not be too fixated on the right now, but look at the general trend.
Melinda says the press thinks that the guy behind the Hill Rat blog is behind the murder. Drysdale had threatened to expose the anonymous blogger.
Chapter Nine
Kit mentions setting up a meeting at We The Pizza which Spike Mendelsohn runs. When we were in DC, we ate at Good Stuff Eatery in Georgetown. This is one of Mendlesohn’s restaurants. Also we have his cookbook.
She has a chance meeting with Trevor, her former officemate from the first book. Kit tells Trevor that Dixon might be a suspect and had found the body. Trevor has contacts which will help Kit investigate.
Chapter Ten
She researches the Speaker’s gavel in the Library of Congress and discovers that at any one time there may be more than one gavel-a set of spares in case one breaks.
Chapter Eleven
Lunch with Judy Talent. Kept herself well. If I could guess, I’d wager that Judy’s intensity pervaded her whole existence—her work, appearance, and personal relationships. She questions Judy about Drysdale.
Chapter Twelve
Kit meets with Trent Roscoe, ostentatiously about House security. But Kit is trying to figure out a way to find if Trent’s boss is involved with Drysdales murder.
Chapter Fifteen
Clarence, Kit and Doug’s dog had a popularity contest which raised money for a dog shelter. They are at a celebration for it. Kit talks to Jordan MacIntyre. Kit questions him. Jordan figures out that she works with the prime suspect of the killer of his husband. Jordan looks threatening. Clarence lunges for him and then goes after the pizza.
Chapter Sixteen
Clarence’s Top Dog award was rescinded because of the chaos he caused. The three go out for an after meeting at a bistro. Jordan is a suspect because of the money he will be inheriting, enabling him to open his own restaurant.
Doug talks about Occam’s razor. He says this points to Dixon doing it. He thinks that is the simplest solution. How to come up with something else to say Dixon did not do it? Come up with an explanation with fewer assumptions than the scenario I offered. Once you’re able to come up with that version of events, you’ve got your killer.
Chapter Eighteen
Contains the book title. Hill Rat broke the story on how Drysdale was killed. Trent will ask Kit for a date.
Chapter Twenty One
Kit is going on a date with Trent. She visits the shop where the gavels are made. She is the second person asking about gavels that day. The first was from the Sergeant at Arms office and not Garreth.
I blew out a long breath. Lying had never been my strong suit, but lately, the deceptions rolled off my tongue smooth as butter. I think this is true. The more you do something, the easier it becomes. Whether it is lying or sinning and building.
Chapter Twenty Two
Kit goes to Trent’s office. She sets up a fake call (Fake A Call). She uses a call, which turns out to be real to look in Gareth’s office. Everything seems OK.
Chapter Twenty Three
Kit thinks it is Gareth who killed Drysdale.
Chapter Twenty Four
The spare gavel is missing from the rostrum on the Speakers dias.
Chapter Twenty Five
Dan quit as chief of staff. Kit is on her way to her office to meet with O’Halloran. She gets accosted in a deserted hallway by the murderer and is abducted into a deserted cafeteria where she is bound and gagged.
Chapter Twenty Six
This part seems really lame. The murderer leaves her alone. She manages to free herself. Then chases after the murderer with the idea of drawing attention to him. Clarence stops the murderer.
Essentially if you read Shogan’s first mystery, Stabbing in the Senate, this is a repeat. It has a slightly different setting-the House of Representatives vs the Senate, and how the murder takes place. But the same main characters are part of the story.
I was interested in seeing if Shogan’s writing improved with practice or was her first book representative of her writing. She relies on much the same style and techniques-naming characters from the pantheon of recognized detectives. The relationships between characters seemed either forced or stilted.
For a quick summer read, this is an OK read. For something which will stimulate your gray cells, read some other mystery. (One redeeming part of the book is that she names several places to eat. If you are going to DC, this might be a decent guide to those kinds of establishments.)
Notes from my book group:
How do you want your life to change because you read this book?
Many of these questions are either from or adapted from LitLovers.
Why the title of Homicide in the House?
Does this story work as a mystery?
Did the ending seem fitting? Satisfying? Predictable?
Which character was the most convincing? Least?
Which character did you identify with?
Which one did you dislike?
Every story has a world view. Were you able to identify this story’s world view? What was it? How did it affect the story?
Why do you think the author wrote this book?
What would you ask the author if you had a chance?
What “takeaways” did you have from this book?
Describe the culture talked about in the book.
How is the culture described in this book different than where we live?
What economic or political situations are described?
Does the author examine economics and politics, family traditions, the arts, religious beliefs, language or food?
How did this book affect your view of the world?
Of how God is viewed?
What questions did you ask yourself after reading this book?
Talk about specific passages that struck you as significant—or interesting, profound, amusing, illuminating, disturbing, sad...?
What was memorable?
Reading Groups General Fiction Guide
- First Line: The digital clock blinked an irritating red, glaring “11:59” in block numerals.
- Last Line: Quite appropriately, the nighttime illumination of the Capitol caused my newly adorned ring finger to sparkle.
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