Just Finished Reading: Deadly Beloved by Max Allan Collins (FP: 2007)

It hardly gets more open and shut than this. A cheated on wife, a husband caught in the act with a hooker and a gun emptied into their joint bed killing both of them. But first impressions can be deceiving. Why was the wife ‘off her meds’? Who tipped her off that her husband was having an illicit affair and why did a known hooker, who didn’t exactly need to be persuaded to do her job, have the date-rape drug in her system? For female PI Ms Michael Tree (Ms Tree – Mystery, get it!) it’s a case her agency can hardly refuse especially when it’s brought to her by her previous boss on the police department and there seems to be a link to her own husband’s death just before their honeymoon. The conspiracy she begins to uncover has been in place for years dating from the conviction of a notorious crime lord and his daughter’s take-over and legitimisation of the ‘business’. The question is: Has the business rally gone legit and why do the families opponents keep dying in seemingly random accidents and acts of violence. Finding out could be the making of the detective agency or it could reunite Ms Tree with her husband – permanently.

Once you got over the somewhat contrived nature of the plot this turned out to be a really fun read. Michael Tree (confusingly both the husband’s & wife’s name!) was a great character, always really with a snappy come-back, a fist or a bullet and wasn’t afraid to take the bad-guy down even if she had then to explain her actions to the police (again). People did tend to die or get really messed up around her I can certainly say that – a bit like watching a female Dirty Harry at work! General characterisation was very good – and not just for the main characters. They all had their own unique backstories and motivations which made sense. The plot kept me guessing until about 2/3 of the way through when I clued into a fair chunk of the mystery so I wasn’t 100% surprised by the reveal but it was nice to figure at least some of the narrative before the author laid it out. That’s always a satisfying feeling. Unfortunately, to date, there hasn’t been any more Tree mysteries in novel form but there is, apparently, a whole comic book series out there which I was unaware of. There’s even talk of a movie at some point but nothing confirmed yet. I’d certainly read more of her books and give the movie a once over if the trailer was OK and they picked the right person for the role. I think I’ll also be checking out more crime novels by this author. MUCH better than the last Hard Case crime novel. Recommend for all crime buffs.