Dream House(Unabr.) [Audiobook, Unabridged] [Audio Cassette]

Remembered for her splendid performance of "Blues In The Night," actress/voice performer Deanna Hurst gives an equally listenable reading of Ms. Krich's latest.

When does an act of petty vandalism become an evil act? That's the thread of this compelling mystery starring Molly Blume, ace reporter of true crimes. Privileged residents of a luxe Los Angeles neighborhood are more than a little annoyed when pranksters (?) heave a pumpkin through windows and pitch eggs at front doors. Homeowners in this area expect the best, and are already ticked off at the preservation boards that prevent them from remodeling their pricey digs.

Then, more terrifying than annoying, fire breaks out on Fuller Street at the home of Margaret and Hank Reston. The ensuing flames take the life of Margaret's elderly father. To Molly, arson doesn't fit the pattern of thrown eggs and pumpkins. Furthermore, Margaret is missing. Last seen in her garden some five months before she seems to have vanished leaving only a trace of blood.

The police are stymied, and so is Molly. But she doesn't stop.

"Dream House" is a unique crime story sure to entertain and enthrall.

Remembered for her splendid performance of "Blues In The Night," actress/voice performer Deanna Hurst gives an equally listenable reading of Ms. Krich's latest.

When does an act of petty vandalism become an evil act? That's the thread of this compelling mystery starring Molly Blume, ace reporter of true crimes. Privileged residents of a luxe Los Angeles neighborhood are more than a little annoyed when pranksters (?) heave a pumpkin through windows and pitch eggs at front doors. Homeowners in this area expect the best, and are already ticked off at the preservation boards that prevent them from remodeling their pricey digs.

Then, more terrifying than annoying, fire breaks out on Fuller Street at the home of Margaret and Hank Reston. The ensuing flames take the life of Margaret's elderly father. To Molly, arson doesn't fit the pattern of thrown eggs and pumpkins. Furthermore, Margaret is missing. Last seen in her garden some five months before she seems to have vanished leaving only a trace of blood.

The police are stymied, and so is Molly. But she doesn't stop.

"Dream House" is a unique crime story sure to entertain and enthrall.

- Gail Cooke

Molly Blume doesn't like loose ends. Her career as a crime novelist free lance journalist involves making sense out of horrific bits and pieces taken from police blotters and weaving them into cohesive investigative reports. When the pieces don't fit, she wants to know why. A series of seemingly random acts of malicious vandalism in LA's exclusive Hancock Park catches her attention, and an initial swing through the neighborhood provides her with a first hand introduction to the kind of fiery dissension pro and anti-HARP (Historic Architectural Restoration and Preservation) forces have created in that area, an impression which is reinforced after she attends an acrimonious meeting where both factions are present. Her involvement with the dispute deepens and becomes more personal due to a chance encounter with former professor of architecture, Oscar Linney, whom she finds wandering the street in a mental fog and takes home to the house he once shared with his daughter Margaret and his irascible son-in-law Hank, thus precipitating her directly into the affairs of the troubled Reston family. Here are puzzles galore. It seems Margaret vanished without a trace five months ago, and now the house is up for sale. Inexplicably, a few days later, it burns to the ground with Linney trapped inside. While the police opine a case of HARP-related arson with tragic but accidental consequences, Molly's sense of order insists that there must be a connection between Margaret's disappearance and her father's death. Establishing it puts her right in the line of fire as she turns up enough missing links to eventually form a horrifying picture of greed, graft and corruption, point the police in the right direction to catch a clever and ruthless killer and write - 30 - to her story.

I think Molly Blume is one of the most thoroughly satisfying, utterly delightful new sleuths to come along in ages. "Blues in the Night" hooked me, but "Dream House" sold me. I always expect rock-solid, off-beat plotting and expert craftsmanship from Rochelle Krich, but the mysteries that really ignite the fan impulse in me are novels of character. And Molly is such a wonderfully complex one! She's smart, caring, feisty...and fun! Lagniappe? Ms. Krich does such a superb job of delineating Molly's deep commitment to her Orthodox Jewish faith that her on-again-off-again romance with her rabbi boyfriend adds still another dimension of depth and humor to her adventures. I think James Joyce would be very happy with 21st century Molly...I know I am.