Winter House - Kathleen Mallory, Bk 8 Author:Carol O'Connell When a serial lady-killer is found with shears sticking out of his chest and an ice pick in his hand, Kathy Mallory and her NYPD Special Crimes partner Detective Sgt. Riker are called in to investigate. The home owner, one of the occupants of Winter House, the scene of the crime, is 70-year-old Nedda Winter, who immediately confesses to th... more »e killing, claiming it was self-defense. Murder solved, case closed. It's even poetic justice. But Winter House is the site of a massacre that took place 50 years previously and doesn't give up its dead so easily. Nedda turns out to be the most famous lost child in NYPD history, missing for almost sixty years, thought to have been kidnapped following the massacre of her family: five siblings, father, stepmother, nanny, and housekeeper -- nearly the entire household wiped out...with an ice pick. Mallory and Riker will have to reopen the original investigation in order to try and stop the murderer from finishing what they started.« less
Book in Gift condition. Great thriller in the Mallory series by award winning crime fiction writer. Intricate plot, great characters and rich prose - O'Connell is a wonderful writer.
I'm not 100% sure how I feel about this book and, therefore, not sure how to write a review! On one side, the who-done-it part of the crime(s) is actually quite good, which I loved. On the other side, I wasn't able to grab a hold of and embrace the whole "Red Winter" thing. It was a little too far-fetched and seemed to go on and on where it needed to be reined in and I just wanted it to get to the point. Top that with an unbalanced Detective Mallory, whom everyone knows she is, but does nothing about it, irritated me somewhat and again, I wanted the story to get to the point already. Still, the story had some good points, so, you see my conundrum. Would I recommend it? No, because there are too many other excellent books out there and this was kind of a waste of time.