Mercy Killing

March 8, 2010
Solomita (Cracker Bling
) deserves credit for dealing with end-of-life issues, but he could've done a better job addressing the serious ethical implications of euthanasia in this mediocre contemporary procedural set in New York City. After many years in a vegetative state, wealthy Joyce Hauptman dies at home in Queens, but the city's death investigator suspects the widower, Charles, may have helped end her suffering. A political appointee at the medical examiner's office, who discounts this suspicion, releases the body before an autopsy can be performed. NYPD Det. Lenny Shaw, who pursues the case even after the corpse is cremated, retrieves bone fragments that contain traces of poison. When Lenny learns that Joyce's father stands to benefit if Charles is convicted of murder, the detective realizes the case isn't so clear-cut. The resolution of the story line may strike some readers as less than satisfactory.

March 1, 2010
Who killed Joyce Hauptman, her husband or her father?

Felled by a stroke five years ago, Joyce has lain in a vegetative state until someone sprinkles an arsenic compound in her feeding tube and she finally succumbs. By all accounts, her husband Charles was devoted to her, but along with three nurses, one of them unlicensed, he was the one responsible for her care, and he stood to inherit $20 million on her death. Even so, her father, Max Baum, may have thought her fortune was coming to him, since it had originally belonged to his wife before she committed suicide. He'd handled all the disbursements for nursing care and other bills, and he had access to the poison. New York homicide detective Lenny Shaw is unsure which of his suspects to blame, but when Charles is indicted, he continues his investigation of Max, giving the defense team a good shot at establishing reasonable doubt, especially when Max's chauffeur goes after Lenny and his partner in a revenge attack. More will die and justice will be derailed when Lenny, sensing that he's been duped, goes rogue.

Solomita (Cracker Bling, 2009, etc.) is a better stylist than plotter. But it's so seldom that a good jolt of noir enlivens a classic whodunit that he deserves full marks for a mostly successful melding.

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April 1, 2010
When bedridden and rich Joyce Hauptman dies suddenly, the medical examiner finds signs of arsenic poisoning. Her husband is the prime suspect, but detective Lenny Shaw's meticulous investigation finds there's more here than a straight mercy killing. VERDICT Solomita ("Cracker Bling") delivers a most unusual tale of a cop who gets too involved in a murder case. This one will keep noir fans in suspense. [See Prepub Mystery, "LJ" 11/1/09.]

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2010
New York detective Lenny Shaw has a tough case on his hands. A woman who has been in a vegetative state for five years has died. It looks like she was murdered (there are signs of arsenic poisoning), and her husband appears to be the prime suspect. But Lenny has been around the block more than a few times, and he knows things are rarely as they seem. He is not an especially likable guyhe can be gruff, terse, argumentativebut he carries the action effectively, and he is one of those cops who treat everybody the same, regardless of rank or social standing. The central question, whether the victims husband is a grieving widower or a cold killer, is examined from a variety of angles, and Solomita also does a nice job of exploring the notion of mercy killing (which, like beauty, is sometimes in the eye of the beholder). A very well crafted novel, with a couple of nice surprises and a protagonist readers will want to see again.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)