Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 21, 1993 TAG: 9302210308
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: F-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
BOOKS IN BRIEF
Contents Under Pressure.\ By Edna Buchanan. Hyperion. $21.95.Edna Buchanan, Pulitzer Prize-winning crime reporter for the Miami Herald, turns news into fiction in this fast-moving entertainment. The protagonist is Britt Montero, a glamorous reporter not unlike the author, who finds herself in the middle of a case that borrows heavily from the Rodney King beating and its aftermath. The setting is Miami and though no videotape is involved, deeply rooted racial tensions are sparked by the death of black sports hero and community leader, D. Wayne Hudson. Did he die from injuries sustained in a car wreck, or was he beaten by the cops who had been chasing him? Or is there a third alternative?
It should go without saying that Buchanan knows the territory. She understands the unique problems that South Florida faces with its mix of Cuban, Jewish, black and white populations. Her characters are vivid, flawed and believable. Her prose, liberally laced with deadpan humor, is a delight to read. And she does a first-rate job of turning it all into properly complex mystery story with a big bang-up finish. Not surprisingly, she's at her best when she describes police officers, their mindsets, habits and families.
"Contents Under Pressure" could be the beginning of a fine series. I certainly hope so. - MIKE MAYO, Book Page Editor\ \ SILVER SPIRE: A NERO WOLFE MYSTERY.\ By Robert Goldsborough. Bantam Books, $19.00.
In my early mystery-reading days, after I had worked my way through Sherlock Holmes, Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe mysteries were what I graduated to. I loved Stout's New York: the brownstone where Wolfe lived, Fritz in the kitchen, orchids on the roof and wonderful meals served with clocklike precision.
Fans of Nero Wolfe can be assured that Goldsborough is faithful to much of Rex Stout's creation. All the characters and places are present and accounted for, and Archie Goodwin is as irreverent as ever.
My problem is that I'm enough of a traditionalist to be discomfited by Wolfe and company operating in the 1990s. I find it difficult to accept a contemporary setting and context; I prefer Stout's evocation of an earlier time and place. But that aside, Goldsborough has Stout's style down pat.
"Silver Spire" is one of six new Nero Wolfe mysteries written since Stout's death. Once you accept the notion that Wolfe is still around, tending his orchids and solving mysteries from the comfort of his brownstone, that he didn't die when his creator did, you can look forward to the continued adventures of Wolfe and Goodwin, Goldsborough style. - NAN SEAMANS\ \ Mitigating Circumstances.\ By Nancy Taylor Rosenberg. Dutton. $21.
In this first novel, an assistant prosecutor and her daughter are raped. She and her husband are divorcing and she has found a new love, but her husband keeps trying to cause a rift between mother and daughter. Is he jealous of her accomplishments? These circumstances are the basis of a fairly entertaining new entrant in the series of novels about either attorneys or rape. Here, they're combined. Not as entertaining as "Degree of Guilt" by Patterson or "The Firm" by Grisham, it would rank pretty close to the next level. On a scale of 0-4, I'd give it 2 1/2.
Rosenberg, now at work on her second novel, has a full color photograph on the dust jacket and it would appear that the heroine's "beautiful long red hair" is hers. She is somewhat graphic in her description of a medical exam for rape as well as in her sex scenes. Her descriptions of police officers, courts and the like run in the current mainstream of thought for popular fiction. Maybe it's good reading for some, but I sometimes feel that the new stereotypes fail to consider that there are good cops and good judges, too. Rosenberg sometimes leaves a storyline hanging, and she throws in misidentification, incest and other items throughout the tale. Her points are fairly valid, and she is especially moving in a description of the role of a police officer and the attitude of society. For the most part, "Mitigating Circumstances" is enjoyable and entertaining, and isn't that why we read?
- JOSEPH WILLIAMS
Nan Seamans is director of the Learning Resources Center at the College of Health Sciences.\ \ Joseph Williams is familiar with the justice system.