Objects of Desire - A Rita Mars Thriller (#2)

This is a series that I am reading because the author is a personal friend of a very good friend of mine.  While I have never met the author, Valerie Webster, personally, my good friend knows her and can't speak highly enough of her.  In fact, my friend is named in the Acknowledgements at the beginning of this book, as he helped edit the book!  And since I enjoyed the first book in this series (a little more than a year ago, my review at Rita Mars - Driven), I went into this story with some high hopes (and expectations).

Objects of Desire, like the first book, finds the title character, investigative reporter turned private investigator Rita Mars, working on two cases at the same time.  The "main" case, and the one that is promoted on the back of the book, involves the disappearance of Rita's ex-partner.  Did she disappear on her own?  Was she kidnapped?  Was she murdered?  No one knows what happened for sure, but a crusading cop with a major chip on his shoulder is out to pin the disappearance on Rita, which, of course, makes it very difficult for Rita to investigate - since every move she makes, the cop sees it as an admittance of guilt and an act on the part of Rita to cover her tracks!  Even with help and advice from Captain Smooth, Rita has to watch her every step, or she may wind up behind bars (which, quite frankly, she does at one point in the story!).

The second case that Rita is investigating, to me, is the much more interesting story.  Rita is hired to investigate a non-profit organization, whose new treasurer has sparked some mistrust for one of the employees - an employee who happens to know both Rita and her ex.  Rita agrees to look into the organizations' finances, posing as a risk assessment investigator.  She doesn't expect to find much, and basically has the case low on her list of priorities while she tries to figure out what happened to her ex.  But the more she digs into the non-profit and its new treasurer, the more questions she begins to find - one of the biggest being the treasurer's complete lack of history beyond just a couple of years ago and her unusual efforts to keep anyone from having access to the non-profit's financial records.  Well, being the curious one that she is, Rita digs deeper and begins to discover that the secrets and lies go much farther than simple embezzlement - and, in fact, the organization could be the target of some very dangerous, very "underworld" type people!

Webster flits back and forth between the two investigations, even giving us glimpses of the missing ex and her captor (whose identity is not given until Rita uncovers the truth about two-thirds through the story).  The kidnapped ex was, honestly, less exciting, as it was simply Rita going from contact to contact in order to find any clue as to the whereabouts of her ex and the identity of who might have taken her.  Other than her confrontations with the police officer, there was not really that much excitement or danger.  The non-profit story, however - that one really amped the excitement in this book.  The more she delved into it, the more dangerous it became - a shell company's registered agent who made it clear she was not welcome; a couple of thugs who threaten her life, warning her to back off the case; the game of cat and mouse with the treasurer, who knows Rita is on to her; and a vicious attack on her life in her own home when she unlocks the evidence to show exactly who is behind the non-profit's money issues!  This story felt very much like an adult Nancy Drew tale - I just wish we had gotten more of a payoff at the end, as it felt like most of the resolution occurred off-screen (so to speak), and we never got to see Rita face off against the scheming treasurer as she is taken down for her crimes against the non-profit.

This second book does offer up some more supporting cast members, all of whom I enjoyed greatly!  Rita's mom is a real hoot - her mental and physical health are declining, but she's still quick as a whip when it comes to recognizing the same signs in Rita that she saw in Rita's father, who was a law enforcement officer, and she's not afraid to call Rita out on them.  She's also a sly little cookie, who can pull the little innocent act, all the while having full knowledge of what's going on.  I love her!  There's also Rowell, the computer hack who is able to assist her in not only protecting herself against the invasive police officer who is watching her every move, but also help her dig into the finances and history of the non-profit and its not-so-honest treasurer.  He has a quirky personality that immediately endears him to you, and I definitely hope to see more of him in the future!  And then there's that ferocious rabbit hunter, The Great White Hunter (Rita's big, rangy tabby) - he may not have any lines to speak, but he definitely makes his presence known in the story!  And for me, anyone who loves cats, well, that's an automatic plus in my book!

Now, let's talk about the cover to this book.  I'm not really certain of the point to this cover, as it does not in any way convey the mysteries that lay within its pages.  To me, this screams "Sex Sells!" and is a poor attempt to attract readers based solely on two women, who appear to be nude or near nude, holding each close in a sensual manner.  Quite frankly, the cover to the first book was more appealing than this one.  Based on the cover alone, this is not a book I would have picked up, as it appears more like lesbian erotica than a mystery/thriller.  Not sure if this was an author choice or publisher choice, but I'm hoping the next book in this series (if there is one) sticks to a cover that better relays the type of story it is.

That being said, I did enjoy the story overall.  There was some editing snafus, such as missing quotation marks or a couple of misspelled words.  There were also some continuity errors - for example, at the end of Chapter 3, Rita calls her friend, Mary Margaret Smooth, and tells her about a meeting with her ex's current girlfriend, which did not go well.  In the very next chapter, Rita sits down for lunch with Smooth and once again tells her that she visited her ex's current girlfriend.  Did she perhaps forget she already discussed the visit with her friend?  Another example comes towards the end, when Rita goes to visit an old acquaintance of the kidnapper.  On page 271, the name given is "Lou Ann Kosek," but when Rita reaches Highlandtown on page 276, she ends up meeting and talking with "Ceci Lorta."  There was nothing to indicate Rita had changed her mind and visited someone else, so I was confused as to the change in names.  Perhaps Webster decided to change the name at some point after the story was written, but the one reference slipped through the cracks.

 

Oh, and there was something else in this book that was decidedly different from the first.  Webster spent way too much time going into the history of every building and every place that Rita visited in the book.  If the locale's or building's history played an actual part of the story, that would be one thing - but reading the history of every single place Rita went grew a bit tedious, and it began to feel more like padding than actual story elements.  Not sure why this was done, but as it continued throughout the book, it began to pull me out of the story, and I started skimming over those paragraphs, as they held nothing pertinent to either one of the cases at hand.

In any event, these things did not fully detract from my enjoyment of the embezzlement story, and similar to the first book, one of the two cases turned out to be much better to read than the other.  If a third book is forthcoming, we'll have to see if it follows this same format.

RATING:  7 bags of Oreo cookies out of 10 for expanding the cast with some lovable characters and giving the reader cases completely unlike either of the ones in the first book - way to keep it fresh!

Driven - A Rita Mars Thriller (#1)

This book was recommended to me by my very good friend, Geoffrey Lapin, who happens to know the author personally.  He hadn't yet read the book, but he asked me to read it and provide my review of the book, so how could I say no?  I mean, after all, it's a mystery, it features a female protagonist, and with the last name "Mars" - eh, Veronica Mars, anyone?  I LOVED that show!  And better yet, I didn't even have to buy the book - Geoffrey sent me a copy as a gift.  So, I moved it to the top of my reading pile and dove right in.

Driven is the first Rita Mars thriller written by Valerie Webster, and, from what I gather, Ms. Webster's first published novel, period.  The postscript in the book indicates that book two is coming, so this novel is only the beginning of the series.  Webster does a wonderful job of giving us a different kind of sleuth.  Rita Mars is not your typical private investigator.  She's a former investigative reporter turned P.I., with a secretary named Beverly Hills (more on her later!), who lives in the country but maintains an office in the Washington, D.C. area.  She carries a lot of baggage - from an alcoholic father who killed himself to a line of disastrous relationships - but when she sets her mind to something, nothing and no one can stop her until she finds what she is looking for!  In a word - she is driven!

The mystery is a rather topical one - it involves a considerable amount of behind-the-scene deals within the government, on a very high level, that could very well be (and most likely is!) going on in the real world.  Only, in this mystery, the stakes are high enough that someone is willing to kill to keep their secrets from coming out.  What I did find a bit odd was that the mystery opens with Rita Mars going to visit a fellow journalist with whom she used to work alongside - but instead of finding him waiting for her, she finds him dead!  That's not the odd part, though.  With such a cryptic, shocking opening, I was expecting the mystery to focus on who killed Bobby Ellis and what story was he working on that was important enough that someone would kill him; however, the story suddenly moves over to a woman who comes to Rita's detective agency for help - her ex-husband is stalking her and threatening, and she is afraid for her life.  Rita reluctantly takes the case, and soon enough finds herself a target of the ex-husband, who is an ego-maniac that loves to play games and loves to prove he can get away with anything!

So, that begs the question - is this mystery about the death of Bobby Ellis, or is it about the stalking of Karin Van Dreem?  Well, ultimately, it turns out to be about both.  And before you think this is just like a Nancy Drew mystery, where the two very different mysteries suddenly merge and become one greater mystery, don't go there.  This is definitely not Nancy Drew, and the two mysteries are wholly separate monsters all on their own.  Both mysteries put Rita's life in danger, and while with one mystery the killer's identity is unknown and with the other he's plain as day but seemingly untouchable, they both require Rita's utmost investigative skills to solve.  Unfortunately for Rita, one of them nearly lands her in jail, while the other nearly lands her in trouble with the FBI.

I do have to say that I really loved the various supporting characters in the book.  Beverly Hills (f/k/a Charles Tyrell Wheatly) is ex-military and a darned good office assistant who handles all of Rita's administrative work.  She also happens to be a caring person who looks out for her boss (literally!) and is not some stereotypical black man in drag.  Loretta Mondieu is Rita's neighbor out in the middle of nowhere who suffers with Alzheimer's - so she is always meeting her for the first time.  But she's not completely out of it, because she definitely recognizes the devil when she sees him!  Captain Smooth is actually Mary Margaret Smooth (and yes, that IS her name), and she is "the tallest 5'6" cop in the city" (p. 10).  She's Rita's life-long friend and is Rita's go-to person when she needs help.  It truly is a diverse, unique supporting cast that actually melds nicely with Rita's personality and act-before-you-think nature.  I give Webster kudos for fleshing out each of the supporting members of the cast throughout the story, yet leaving so much unknown about each of them to explore in future books.

Now, as I said, the book deals with a lot of political intrigue that, honestly, is likely going on in our government today.  One statement Rita makes early on the story pretty much sums up the reality of today's political climate in America - "...put a face on TV enough, and, bingo, sheep are gonna follow" (p. 32).  Definitely a sad statement of truth regarding the general populace in the United States today.

When all is said and done, the book is a very satisfying read, even if the secondary story involving Karin Van Dreem seems a bit superfluous.  But, then again, what private investigator in real life only works on one case at a time?  I guess it is a bit more realistic that Rita would need to work on a paying client's case while also trying to work on her own personal case (for which she is not getting paid).  Now let's see what Webster has in store for Rita Mars in book two...

RATING:  8 peanut butter and strawberry preserves sandwiches out of 10 for introducing Rita Mars to the world in an engaging first novel!