As soon as I opened the book to its first page, I was struck by how long it had been since I'd read a mystery novel. To be completely honest I left mystery novels behind in my Nancy Drew days, in favor of more fantasy books. It's still a mystery (pun intended) to me why this shift occurred, but perhaps it was what I needed at that point in time. Mystery took a back seat and I forgot how amazing it can be to become absorbed in a particularly harrowing sequence of deaths.

That being said, of course you can ascertain that I found myself hooked! Clare Vengel is, in my mind, a much cooler and much more sassy Nancy Drew. She is the undercover cop I wish I was. Whereas Nancy snuck around in turtlenecks and dresses, Clare Vengel rides around on a Triumph motorcycle in leather and designer jeans. Her wit is deliciously acerbic, and she can hold her own with any man that comes her way. In other words, Clare is my kind of girl!

In this first installment of Robin Spano's series, Clare is asked to pose as a college student to discover who is behind the murders of several politicians. As she navigates this new group of people, she finds herself becoming a little closer to them than she originally intended to get. I must admit that I was extremely impressed with the way the story was told. The chapters alternate between the perspectives of the people Clare finds herself amongst, and the story becomes a giant puzzle.

I found myself gathering intel that even the detectives didn't have (one of the perks of being omniscient) and working to solve the murder myself. Isn't that the best part of a mystery novel? I guarantee that those who read these books often would have been able to uncover the ending, however I was blown away by it! As hard as I tried, and as eagerly as I read, I wasn't able to put together who the murderer really was. In fact, I literally gasped out loud at the end.

I'll stop rambling now and end this review with what I'm sure you've already gathered (you sleuth you) from my review above. I adored this book! I am a huge fan of Clare and an even greater fan of her creator Robin Spano. I eagerly look forward to the next installment! I can't wait to see what Clare has in store for her next, or what lengths she will go to in an effort to solve it. ( )

When a politician is killed in Toronto rookie police officer Clare Vengel is tasked with her first undercover assignment: join the political science class at the local University where police believe someone may be, or at least know something about, the killer. An email that appears to have originated on campus was sent to a newspaper claiming responsibility for the politician’s murder on behalf of The Society for Political Utopia and it’s Clare’s job to see what she can find out. When she joins Matthew Easton’s Political Utopia for the Real World class she meets more than one person with motive for killing and when more politicians start dying she has to work fast.

At 42 I’m probably a bit young for grumpy old woman status but if my reaction to the character of Clare is anything to go by I’ve definitely got my training wheels on. Despite being given a job she covets Clare does her best to ruin her chances of success by behaving irresponsibly, such as deliberately getting drunk while under cover and forgetting what falsehoods she has told, and berating her handler in an annoyingly childish fashion for all manner of imagined put downs. This might be quite realistic behaviour for a 22-year old but all I wanted to do was give her a slap and tell her to grow up.

Fortunately for me though this is not one of those stories in which a single character advances all the action. In fact the book’s chapters alternate from different points of view and in addition to Clare’s we see action unfold from the perspective of Matthew (the Professor), Laura (the ex-wife of the first victim), Jonathan (one of the students in the class) and Annabel (the journalist who is in text-message contact with the person claiming to be the killer). I found the regular switching gave the book a good, fast pace as well as allowing me to get away from Clare and engage with people I found much more interesting.

Much of the action unfolds against the backdrop of Matthew Easton’s unorthodox class in which students are divided into political parties and must from alliances, present legislation and generally operate as a parliament. Being a politics junkie I really enjoyed this aspect of the novel (I would have crawled over hot coals to be part of something like this when I studied political science myself all those years ago) and thought it offered an original spin on what is at heart a classic whodunnit. Having the students discussing and debating a range of issues allowed all sorts of possible motives to be explored as we learn about the histories and families of all the players. This kept me guessing, if not about the culprit, then about motives and the ultimate outcome right to the end.

Dead Politician Society is well-plotted, has just the kind of social introspection that I enjoy in my reading and the characters are well drawn. The fact that I found Clare to be annoying as hell is quite realistic, I get that annoyed by real people too. If you’re in the market for a funny, fast read with a political bent then you could do a lot worse (especially if you are not a curmudgeonly old woman). ( )

Some offensive language, but I was less worried about that and more disappointed that the story wasn't better. No, I didn't figure who the murderer was (and that is a plus in its favor), but I knew it wasn't the person who confessed. I didn't want to rush home to continue the book or even stay up late to read it. I thought the characters weren't very likable , and what was the thing going on between the undercover cop and her handler? Seems like he didn't want her to suceed. Not a successful tactic to create tension if that is what it was. Overall not a book that I would recommend. ( )

In her first undercover assignment, rookie cop Clare Vengel is tasked to infiltrate a university group that may be responsible for the public deaths of local politicians.Clare is bold and brash, and convinced that she has what it takes to work undercover. Whether her certainty stems from youthful enthusiasm or naivete, she quickly discovers that it's harder than it looks. A little too concerned with her handler's opinion, rather than improving her rather inept investigative skills, I would have preferred more active competence over edgy attitude to give her credibility as the heroine. It wasn't until I was approaching the last quarter of the book that I felt she really took on the role as the primary protagonist.However, Spano skilfully employs multiple viewpoints in Dead Politician Society, and these characters and their part in the story were intriguing. Matthew the misogynist professor, Annabel the ambitious reporter, Laura the first victim's ex wife and Jonathon, the lovesick student are all somehow entangled in the murders. Spano presents their perspectives in alternating chapters which allows us to see connections that Clare can't show us. Each of these characters then introduce other players in the mystery creating an everwidening pool of possibilities. It's challenging, initially, to make sense of the web of information and characters but Spano weaves the details together with a skilled hand. The Canadian political system is similar to ours here in Australia, and that familiarity helped I think though really the political system plays a very small part in the story. Politics are not normally an interest of mine, though I can certainly empathise with the anger and frustration against government representatives that drives the murderer. I thought a university was the perfect setting for the book allowing Spano to juxtapose the idealism of the students with the cynicism of real world political machinations. While the plot is motivated by uncovering the identity of the murderer, Dead Politician Society is primarily a character driven story. This twist on the traditional mystery format, makes for a complex and intriguing story.Read an interview with Robin Spano at my blog www.bookdout.wordpress.com ( )

Clare Vengel is a first year police officer in Toronto. She is sent undercover at a University as a poli-sci major to find out if any students or teachers are involved in the string of political murders. The narrative moves between Clare, a teacher that is a suspect, and a journalist that is in contact with "Utopia Girl", who may be the killer.

This was not a bad debut, Clare has some definite possibilities if this takes off as a series. She is not a by the book girl and has her own baggage but is rather likable. The plot was interesting and there were plenty of suspects to choose from. ( )