Anne WingateCritiques

This is number 9 of the 12 Deb Ralston mysteries out there. I love Deb -- the way she fits in household errands in between detecting, the way she tosses off snappy asides while recounting a story, the way she picks up and cares for all the strays that cross her path. This was a hard read, though, featuring multiple cases of horrific rape and sexual abuse. I'm glad to have rounded out my Deb collection, but I don't think I'll reread this one soon.

There’s an enjoyable enough read, though I think it’s from before Martin had perfectly hit her stride with the Deb Ralston mysteries. It’s certainly useful for filling in family background. Content warning: bad things happening to pregnant women and babies

retrieving a hitchhiking son and his kidnapped girl friend from a madman and murderer

Murder at the Blue Owl

Obviously read this because of the Mensa connection. seem to recall that it was okay, but not stunning.

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Substance: The bulk of the book consists of encyclopedia-style (but not quite encyclopedic) entries about fictional amateur detectives, followed by some limp advice on how to write novels about the same. Laundry-list of classic and contemporary writers was stultifying rather than enlightening (and omitted Dick Francis and Tony Hillerman!).
Emphasized a focus on relationships rather than sophisticated plotting (which is why I find contemporary books generally poor mysteries). Quotes Good Housekeeping rather than any scientific sources, and perpetuates many outdated schticks. Best chapter: listed records that are accessible to public (although the actual law and IT are now out of date) and mentioned things you (the mystery writer) might not have thought of on your own.
Does mention one actual amateur detective who became a serial 'tec (Jim McClosky); however, most real "detectives" are only interested in solving their own real-life crime event (Susan Billing).

Style: Not the best. The authors are not themselves good writers, and the editors were abysmal. Poor syntax, poor paragraphing, and outright spelling errors abound.

NOTE: "The Fugitive" is a fictional version of the "real person" detective, solving other people's problems while trying to solve his own.

A murder at a radio station and drug-dealing outlaw bikers trying to infiltrate a small town north of Dallas. Newly-minted undercover cop Tommy Ingram and his colleagues have their hands full.

this Deb Ralston mystery was more emotional from my point of view. I cried in a few places.
Deb is a Fort Worth police detective in special crimes unit but she also works in murders when she is first on scene.
Deb is out Jogging with 2 friends they go out every thursday running together scince her doc and her boss both have told her she needs to get back exercising.
This thurs they are running earlier than usuall because Deb has to testify in a case and she wants to be able to shower before going into work. They take turns at ending at each others house for hot chocolate. this time Its Jeanne turn to host, but first she runs upstairs to bring her husband down scince he was still sleeping when she left. He is in a wheelchair and she finds him dead in his bed with a gun laying beside him.
Deb gets the case and they even find his dog knocked out.
While deb is in court the cops are still at Jeanne house and her sister-in-law Sue turns up dead in a locked room with cops in the house. than robbery was found still while cops are thier. Jeanne son who was back east in boarding school has been asleep under a couch he took a valiom and is a suspect or he heard the murder.
More deaths and confusion as they try to find out who killed whom and why. FBI was investagating Curtis because he was gun runner even while confined to wheel chair.
Its has twists and turns and keeps my attention in the story. It seems almost everyone of Deb stories she collects stray animals or children in them. I liked the book.

I have enjoyed the Deb Ralston mysteries. Deb is a police detective in Fort Worth, Texas in special crimes unit and handles some murder cases. Deb and foster child Lori just recently joined the Mormon church. Her adopted son Hal has been a member for years and at 19 he is going on a mission. So his family his vacationing on the way to take him to the mission training center in Provo UT. His dad,Mom,Cameron 4 yr old brother and his girl friend Lori,also their pit bull dog
while they are visiting Salt Lake City they go to Gilgal a sculpter garden. ( I have lived with in a few minutes of the garden and never heard of it before and now want to go.) They discover Alexandra murdered body thier. She lives in the bed and breakfast that they are staying with her sister. Alexandra has multiple personalitys. Georgina the owner of Bed and Breakfast asked Deb to find out what happened too her sister by talking to her friends that she does not think will talk to police.
So while Deb is trying to find out which personality Alexandra was murdered. she finds more murders before solving the case.
It kept me reading to find out what happens next. Good plot, clean murder mystery that I enjoyed.

The last Deb Ralston mystery, published in 1997, but I wasn't aware it existed until a few weeks ago. It's a reasonably good end to the series, but the earlier books were much better.½

Two days before returning to work after her maternity leave, Fort Worth police detective Deb Ralston witnesses a bank robbery, the first in a vicious series.

Lots of routine police spade-work ensues, enlivened by Deb's intution and interspersed with scenes from her family life. Not one of the stronger entries in the series, but far from the worst.½

This was a disappointing end to the series. While the "locked room" mystery was interesting, the solution was a little over-convoluted, and there was never a really adequate explanation for the death of one victim. And the death of one of the regular series characters was completely unnecessary to the storyline and made for a bad ending to a series I have really enjoyed up to this point.½

This is the first book in one of my favorite mystery series. We are introduced to Deb Ralston, a detective with the Ft. Worth Major Case Squad, and also a wife and mother with somewhat harried home life (rings very true). She comes in to a bizarre case where the main suspect is being allowed to remain at the crime scene, and they can't even determine how many victims there are, because a room has been entirely filled with furniture and they are impossible to get to.

It seems obvious that Olead, a recent resident of a mental health facility, must have gone nuts and killed his family, but a few details are bothering Deb. Not least that a former mental patient makes a hell of a fall guy for anyone else.

The gradual revelation of what happened, along with an interesting array of characters drawn with great detail, and the collision of Deb's work life with her home life, make this an excellent introduction to a promising series.

I haven't gotten to this one yet, which is a shame. I need to write more cozies.

NA

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Group A1

Detective Deb Ralston is investigating some brutal murders. Second in series.

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