Book: Stabbing in the Senate - Washington Whodunit #1
Basic Information:
Author: Colleen J. Shogan
Edition: ePub on Libby from the Los Angeles Public Library
Publisher: Camel Press
ISBN: 9781603813310 (ISBN10: 1603813314)
Start Date: July 5, 2023
Read Date: July 8, 2023
236 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:
Kit comes in a little early to deliver a paper to Senator Lansford. She finds him stabbed with a model helicopter. She is a suspect and works on clearing her name with an office mate, Meg.
Story goes through how they figure out the suspects and eliminate them. The story ends with Kit being attacked by the murderer in the subway running under the Capitol building and the murderer being arrested.
Cast of Characters:
- Kit Marshall -Staffer of Senator Langsford’s office. Main person who solves the crime
- Senator Lyndon Langsford-The murdered Senator
- Vivian Langsford-The Senator’s wife who had the money in the family
- Meg Peters-Office mate of Kit. Helps to solve the murder. Very attractive woman
- Doug-Partner of Kit, Georgetown professor of history, author
- Senator Regan-friend of Langsford but also on opposite sides of an important bill
- Representative Jordan Jessup-conservative representative from the same state as Langsford. Will be appointed Senator after Langsford’s death.
- Jeff Prentice-lobbyist for Carter Powell
- Vivian Langsford-Senator Langsford’s wife, wealthy
- Matt Rocker-policy person for the Senator’s office
- Trevor-another office staffer who is a bit aloof, without social skills
- Kara-scheduler for the Senator
- Lucinda Porter-chief of staff
- Mandy Lippman-Senator Langsford spokesperson
- O'Halloran-Capitol Police detective in charge of the murder case
- Kyle Tarnoff-Representative Jessops chief of staff
- Henrik-Vivian Langsford’s trainer and lover
- Carter Powell-Not a person, but a defense contractor who is up for a contract with the Federal government.
- Recommendation: NPR
- When: July 5, 2023
- Date Became Aware of Book: July 5, 2023
- Why do I want to read this book: We visited the National Archives this Spring. Recently the author was selected as the head of the National Archives. I am wondering how good of an author she is.
- What do I think I will get out of it? A good summer read.
Thoughts:
As I said above, I was not looking for the great American murder mystery. Nor did I get it. This was an enjoyable read for me as I was struggling through another couple of books. I just wanted to have something to enjoy for a little while.
Some of my thoughts are that there were a lot of cliche moments here. Such as when Kit finds the recycle bin slightly askew. She finds a paper she had just put into the Senator’s desk when she discovered that the Senator had been murdered. (pulled the paper and was surprised to see my memo, the one I had carried into Langsford’s office earlier today) Or the mysterious voice on the phone. Or in the last part of the book, a fight. And then there is the protagonist to the story is able to solve the “who killed the Senator” in ways the professional police cannot.
And then there is the unbelievable. When Kit tells her accomplice that she knows who the murderer is. But the murderer is close enough to her that the murderer hears her. Or a chief of staff would be blabbing what her boss says is to be quiet about to everybody who she knows it seems like.
And then there is the naming of the mystery novel gods. From Agatha Christie to Dorothy Sayers-I will admit my heart skipped a beat when Lord Peter Whimsey (Follow up on some leads’? Do I need to remind you that you’re a Senate staffer, not Lord Peter) was named.
The author can be repetitive in the telling of her story and not in a subtle way. She has a tendency to tell rather than show at times.
And there are other references which either political junkies or local people would remember. Such as Gary Condit and Chandra Levy-they were local Central Valley people: Condit was accused of killing Levy, but it took several years to unravel that it was somebody else who did.
So much of the book is cheesy.
The author reviews motives: First, you have a power motive. Carter Power, to be exact. If Langsford backed the company, several people would stand to benefit, not just financially but by proving their influence and their ability to get things done. Second, there’s the political motive. Several people would move up in the world, one to the Senate. Third, you have a personal or financial motive, such as the insurance money
A couple interesting comments she makes:
- It’s almost impossible for outsiders to understand the inner workings of a political circle. Isn’t that true of almost all specialty occupations? Or at least those within the occupations think so?
- Living in the Washington, D.C., region has a lot of positives, yet amazing cuisine isn’t one of them. I am not a great connoisseur of high class food. We were just in DC this Spring. While we visited places to eat which were enjoyable, none really stood out as being exception or something we could only get in that region.
- Freedom Trail in Boston. Since the Senator is from Boston, this stands to reason that he would bring friends to walk this trail in Boston. It would have been a bit startling to see that he took a friend along the Black Freedom Trail.
- Several references which this Spring I became acquainted with on a visit to DC. Such as Union Station, the Metro and a few other places.
One thing Shogan says which is a bit of an eye opener is how staffers become lobbyists and lobbyists become staffers very quickly.
Evaluation:
I was looking for a quick, easy summer time read when I came across an article that the Nation Archivist was a mystery writer. So I checked out her first mystery book from the library. It did not disappoint in being a quick read. It fit what I wanted perfectly.
Having said that, just be aware, this is her first book and it shows the lack of experience in writing this type of a story. Many of the clue are given repeatedly and in obvious ways. The writing style, while not bad, does not rise to any of the really good writers.
Still it served what I wanted and I will probably read her second book just to see if she improves or not.
Good Quotes:
First Line: Ascending from the underground depths of the Metro, I confronted the alabaster dome in the distance.
Last Line: Me, too!
References:
- Amazon-Book
- Amazon-Author
- Barnes and Noble
- GoodReads-Book
- GoodReads-Author
- NPR Review - articles on Shogan From July 4th and 5th, 2023
- Fantastic Fiction
- Littsburg-Gives the first chapter
- The Hill is Home
- Washington Independent Review of Books
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