School Library Journal Review
YA-- Starring in her tenth mystery is Sharon McCone, a reflective young detective. While trying to locate four heirs of the estate of an ex-hippie from the turbulent Berkeley days, Sharon becomes embroiled in murder and suicide that seem to emanate from the Vietnam era. Maintaining her dignified demeanor doesn't preclude her running down and capturing a sniper, rowing to an island to save two children, or confronting a news anchor whom she later has to rescue from the San Francisco Bay. Full of adventure, humanity, and two engaging kittens, this thoughtful mystery should attract older YAs.-- Pam Spencer, Jefferson Sci-Tech, Alexandria, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Private detective Sharon McCone, investigating the murder of a former anti-Vietnam War activist, discovers that his four beneficiaries are being targeted by a homicidal sniper. ``McCone is one of the most freshly conceived and complexly characterized of the female private eyes,'' said PW. ``Muller's fine eye for detail and sense of place bring San Francisco and the California subculture vividly to life.'' (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Sharon McCone, San Francisco investigator for All Souls Legal Co-op (The Shape of Dread, etc., etc.), is in a downbeat mood as she takes on a new assignment for boss Hank Zahn. He's puzzled by the holograph will left by client Perry Hilderly. It disinherits his ex-wife and teen-aged sons, leaving a considerable estate to be divided among four seeming strangers--Jessica Goodhue, Thomas Grant, Libby Heikkinen, and David A. Taylor. Hilderly was killed by a sniper's bullet--the latest of a rash of random street-shootings--but as Sharon digs deeper into the case, doubts arise as to just how random they are. As she tracks down the heirs, one by one, their connections to Hilderly and to one another gradually emerge-connections that were born in the Sixties among anti-Vietnam war protests; the sexual revolution; the infiltration of FBI spies into the more radical movements; a botched bombing conspiracy, and the price paid for it. In fact, the price is still being paid--only two of those heirs remain by the time Sharon has nailed the sniper; Hank has barely escaped becoming another victim; lives have been forever changed, and Sharon's mood lifts with a phone call from long-unseen lover George Kostakos. An intriguing story, slowed a bit by a dense thicket of subplots and minor characters. But its strongly evoked San Francisco background; powerful echoes of the Sixties turmoil; and some well-delineated major characters make it one of Muller's best. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Previous Sharon McCone mysteries felt a lot like transition pieces: they often gave a sense of going through the motions, although they were deftly plotted and gave an interesting insight into the low-rent side of San Francisco. But Muller and McCone hit top form in this latest yarn. A client dies in a random shooting. His second will, discovered in the apartment fridge, cuts off his family and bequeaths four equal shares of a million dollars to four seemingly unconnected people: a lawyer, a young TV anchorperson, a drug-ravaged burnout, and a woman struggling to run a stable. Why these four? McCone spends the rest of the book finding out, driving her MG in and out of the literal and figurative fog to the remote farms of western Marin County and to a lucrative city legal practice devoted to men in marital breakdowns. Muller's plot is by necessity a complicated one, but while it occasionally wobbles and perhaps spreads its guilt too thinly, its elements are brought together nicely. Meanwhile, the slow emotional rebirth of her detective, after the loss of a lover and a cat, continues apace. --Peter Robertson
