Shadow of Death: A Brady Coyne Novel (Mass Market Paperback)

Though there is occasional violence and some tough-as-nails confrontations, the Brady Coyne series offers a unique approach to the detective story. Emphasizing the interrelationships of realistically portrayed characters more than hard-boiled action, author Tapply uses the characters' dialogue with Brady Coyne to give them life. Though some of these characters are easily recognizable local stereotypes, he gives them credibility by mixing these fictional characters with real-life characters. Jimmy D'Ambrosio is fictional, but he is described as having been the campaign manager of the real former mayor, Kevin White, a quintessential Boston politician. The fictional Cahill worked as an undercover state policeman, investigating the Winter Hill Gang, a real gang, one of whose members is on the FBI Ten Most Wanted List. And when Coyne goes to the North End to talk to Vincent Russo, a restaurateur and mob boss, he is talking to a fictional character with roots in real Boston history.

Tapply's folksy narrative style, the honest simplicity of his descriptions, and the incorporation of local color from Boston and the woodlands of southern New Hampshire, give the novel a breadth and "charm" missing from more action-oriented series. Relatively simple in its presentation and style, the mystery is also simple, and while the reader will probably be surprised by one plot twist at the end, the chances are that s/he will not be very surprised by the ultimate solution to the mystery. The reading of the novel is so pleasurable, however, and the dialogue and interaction of the characters are so much fun to observe that I will gladly trade "shock and awe" for good, old-fashioned story-telling like this, anyday. Mary Whipple

Shadow of Death makes for interesting reading because it has several strong lines of story development: an unusual marriage between a female political aspirant who has been a prosecutor and a quiet male history professor; a tough ethical issue as Brady Coyne has to honor client confidentiality while the cops desperately need some help; the evolving relationship between Evie Banyon and Brady as they move in together and take up with Henry, their new dog; and a remote scandal in a small New Hampshire town that no one seems to want to discuss. The background for these story lines is that Brady has been hired by Ellen Stoddard's senatorial campaign manager, Jimmy D'Ambrosio (known as Jimmy D), to find out what's happened to the candidate's husband ("He's acting . . . weird."). Since Ellen is the daughter of a client, and a friend, Brady checks with her before taking on the case. His job: Hire a PI to find out what's going on . . . and keep his mouth shut (attorney-client privilege being helpful in such matters). Brady duly hires Gordon Cahill, a great PI, to do the tailing . . . and everything seems to work fine until Cahill skips the meeting to make his report. Instead, Detective Horowitz is tossing Cahill's office. Cahill has turned up dead . . . and evidence soon points toward foul play. Horowitz wants answers, and Brady cannot get permission from Jimmy D to provide any. Feeling guilty and responsible, Brady follows Cahill's trail. In the meantime, Professor Stoddard has disappeared.

Brady's search takes him to New Hampshire with substantial complications along the way for all of the characters. The action is leavened by several interesting characters who are specific to this book, lots of bad puns and speculation about trout streams.

If you don't mind the clunky mystery and weird, ineffective methods of investigating it (for example, why didn't Brady just look up the details about the town's past in a newspaper?), you will probably think this is a four or five star book.

As I finished the book, I began to realize why it is so hard to write great books. You can get all but one part right . . . and still far below the mark. Keep getting feedback on what you have written and then keep rewriting has to be the lesson from this unfortunately flawed book.

Brady Coyne is a nice-guy lawyer. Recent novels featuring him have been a bit bland because frankly nice guys in crime novels are boring. This recent novel is the best one in years. The characters were well defined and the plot of suspenseful. Brady is still laid back and too nice, but this time he suffers some angst which makes him more human. It was a pleasant page turning, quickly read book.