Revenge Served Cold

Jackie Fullerton
Thomas House (2010)
ISBN 9780984381500
Reviewed by Leslie Granier for Reader Views (04/10)


When Professor Elliott Spence is killed by a hit-and-run driver, his wife Kathy is the prime suspect.  Some of the professor’s law students, led by Anne Marshall, decide to involve themselves in investigating the case, much to the chagrin of the local police force.  Assisting Anne with her efforts is the ghost of her deceased father who himself was a professor of law and a friend of Elliott Spence.  Anne and her friends vow to leave no stone unturned to find the killer and get justice for their teacher.

The premise for the story is good.  A murder mystery with a ghost and characters with shady backgrounds should be a recipe for a great book.  However, “Revenge Served Cold” falls short.  Anne is meant to be seen as an independent and brave heroine, but she seems foolhardy and reckless to me.  She withholds important information about the case (even though a homicide detective is part of her study group) because she wants to make sure she is kept in the investigative loop.  Her meddling in the case also puts her friends in danger, which is startling because apparently she has done this once before and it did not turn out well then either.

On the positive side, I thought incorporating a ghost into the book was a clever way to assist the main character because he could spy on the suspects without them being aware of his presence.  I do not understand, although, why his tobacco pipe can only be smelled by very few people.  However, I was greatly disappointed in the lack of suspense.  The killer was revealed entirely too early and the story became redundant as the characters kept rehashing the same information amongst themselves to try to solve the case.  I was also disturbed by the lack of editing - a character's name changes (Shane becomes Sean a few times) and some quotes are obviously attributed to the wrong characters.

“Revenge Served Cold” is written for an adult audience, with women probably being more attracted to it because of the intelligent, yet impetuous, female lead.  The book showed promise but there was not enough suspense or mystery for me.

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