Kate Flora, Playing God

Playing God

Kate Flora

Five Star, Sep 2006, $25.95

ISBN: 1594144613

On a wintry night in Portland, Maine, patrol officer Remy Aucoin discovers the corpse of a man sitting in his Mercedes. Detective Joe Burgess heads the investigation into the murder of prominent radiologist Dr. Steven Pleasant, who was known for entertaining call girls in his car.

The crime scene makes it appear that a hooker, angered with her John, committed the homicide by shoving a steel rod down his throat. Joe and his team, Terry Kyle and Stan Perry, begin to investigate seeking the motive. They talk with the spouse, who knew her husband went elsewhere for his needs and allegedly wanted him dead. That is followed up with other family members who also hated Steven. The cops visit his medical partners and his helpers who are reticent about the deceased, but inadvertently describe the victim as an ambitious person coveting fast money. Finally they talk with hookers who knew the doctor intimately. Soon they uncover inconclusive evidence that Dr. Pleasant was selling Oxycontin while a nurse quietly claims he alienated patients. The potential list of people with a motive, means, and opportunity keeps growing as the victim was not a pleasant person to work with.

This is an interesting police procedural starring the so called "meanest" cop in Maine, but readers will see that no nonsense Joe is actually a caring person who does not abide with official stupidity. The storyline is fast-paced (part of the reason is to stay warm while at an outdoor crime scene in winter) as the number of people with a motive mounts exponentially with every subgroup that were part of the unpleasant Steven's circle. Leaving Thea Kozak to thaw out, Kate Flora provides readers with an entertaining hard boiled murder mystery.

Harriet Klausner