Review: A Great Murder Mystery!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 2, 2014
In "Too Quiet in Brooklyn" Susan Russo Anderson blends strings of a plot that is filled with action, suspense and mystery. As the story opens a corpse has been discovered near the front door of Private Investigator Fina Fitzgibbon's brownstone in the same place her mother's body was found five years before. To add fuel to the mystery the victim's grandson is missing and Fina vows that she will hunt down not only the strangler but the kidnapper.The plot progresses slowly at first but quickly heats up, to end with several shocking surprises. The characters are realistic and complex with all their strengths and weaknesses. Fina Fitzgibbons has an intense, determined and prickly personality. Hesitant to trust anyone after the corruption that tainted her mother's reputation at Heights Federal Bank and haunted by her unsolved murder, Fina resists loving her boyfriend Denny McDuffy, a conscientious NYPD patrol officer who's sympathetic, kind and caring to the woman he adores. Like all the characters Detective Jane Templeton's personality evolves throughout the story. Ambitious, career-oriented and blunt, she's also perceptive, realizing and admitting Fina's value as a friend as well as to the case. Cookie, Fina's friend and a fellow snoop, is a stark contrast to the other two women. She's an intellectual with a streak of vanity and a perchance for dating the wrong type of men.In this story the antagonists are chilling and merciless; like Ralph, a simple man with the hunger of a pedophile and the strength to kill, and Winston Connors, a heartless and corrupt ex-financier who has destroyed multiple lives. The plot weaves together the innocent, the guilty and those that span both sides but are desperate to find deliverance from the darkness that has permeated their lives.At first I wasn't sure I'd like this novel, but after I finished it, I can say unequivocally it's a great murder-mystery, well-worth reading.