Murder on K Street
A Capital Crimes Novel
By Margaret Truman Thorndike Press, Large Print Edition (2007)
ISBN 10: 0-7862-9764-6
ISBN 13: 978-0-7862-9764-1
Genre: Mystery
Reviewed by Auggie Moore - March 31, 2008
Margaret Truman is in top form in her Capital Crimes mystery; Murder on K Street. In this installment of her bestselling series, when Senator Lyle Simmons discovers his murdered wife's body he does what seems to come naturally to politicians - he tries first of all to protect his reputation. Finding his wife's killer takes second place. As the mystery unfolds, suspicion falls upon Jonell Marbury, a Washington Lobbyist. While all trails lead toward Marbury, who was the last person to see the murdered woman alive, Philip Rotondi begins to think that the whole package is just a little too neatly tied up and sets out to discover the real killer.
Rotondi is a former Baltimore District Attorney and the former lover of Jeanette, Simmons' wife. Both Rotondi and Simmons knew Jeanette when they were in college - and it was Simmons who won the lady. Although he lost in the game of love, Rotondi has stayed in contact with both Jeanette and Lyle and he knows more than one family secret. When Simmons first found his wife, one of his first calls was to Rotondi. Now he is faced with the quandary of deciding just how much information about the family he should share with the police and how much he should work to protect Simmons reputation and Presidential aspirations.
Rotondi soon comes to believe that Marbury isn't the real killer, a supposition that is reenforced when another woman is killed in the same manner as Simmons' wife. Aided by amateur sleuths Mac and Annabel Smith (respectively a former criminal defense lawyer and a matrimonial attorney), Rotondi embarks on a race against time to find the real killer - before he, or she, can claim a third victim.
Well-paced and realistic, Murder on K Street is a great mystery that is full of red-herrings and intriguing insights into the workings of Washington, D.C. and the politicos that haunt its environs. This is an easy, relaxing read that come very close to being classed as a cozy mystery. All in all, Murder on K Street is a fine addition to Truman's Capital Crimes series, and it will keep you engrossed from beginning to end.
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When a National Model Worker is found murdered, it falls upon Chief Inspector Chen Cao of the Shanghai Police Department to wade through the bureaucracy of Communist China to find her killer. (Large Print)
