Bad Things Happen

Good pacing and interesting twisty plot.

Not bad. Maybe 3.5 stars because it's set in Ann Arbor, which I wasn't expecting.

I'd give it a 3.5 star if I could. Enjoyable little page turner, but nothing ultimately memorable.

Always on the lookout for a clever crime novel, when this one showed up on the New Fiction table at Bankrupt Megastore, it went directly onto the want list. Got it for Christmas. (Thank you, Santa!) In this story a man calling himself David Loogan gets involved with crime fiction magazine editor's wife. The editor soon ends up dead and more bad things happen in quick succession. The story hooks you strongly in the first 70 pages and then messes a bit with your expectations as you continue. Cool story, lots of fun, zippy style. I plowed through it. Part of the fun is the way the author pokes fun of or works in the usual mystery clichés, since several of the characters in the book are mystery writers. Also, it's fun to read a stand-alone story, i.e. one not part of a series with a recurring character. Highly recommended.

Quite a bit of build up, but it is worth it. Interesting style of writing also.

What a sublime delight to pick up an unheard-of book by an unheard-of author and to become completely caught up in a wonderfully taut tale. Deliciously plotted; quite nearly perfect.

We started this one on CDs, on the way home from the Texas Book Festival. We got about 1/3 into the story before we ran out of time. I was intrigued enough with the book that I found it in print at the library and finished it this Thankfully Reading Weekend.

I don't read many mysteries. I get lost in the plot. I'm really more of a character-driven-story-girl.

And I will admit that I got pretty lost at several points, but I think I got most of the story. I'll just say the story involves authors and editors who wished they were authors and murders. One person is actually murdered with a book (not giving much away here).

Definitely my kind of murder mystery.