Point Deception

June 25, 2001
You can taste the fog and smell the seaweed along Highway 1 in Boucher Award-winner Muller's Soledad County—even though it's a fictional entity pasted between the real Mendocino and Humboldt Counties on California's northern coast. You can also feel the despair and frustration that hover over the area, scene of some particularly brutal murders 13 years before. Taking a break from her justly praised Sharon McCone series, Muller creates a compelling (if somewhat predictable) story of a community and its inhabitants whose faith in themselves and in each other has been poisoned by the past. Sheriff's Deputy Rhoda Swift, now in her mid-30s, was a rookie cop who made some mistakes on her first big job—investigating the shooting deaths of six adults and two children in a post-hippie commune in Cascada Canyon. After driving past a young woman standing next to her disabled sports car at the Point Deception turnout, Rho turns back to help, but a sudden emergency call takes her elsewhere. The disappearance and later murder of the stranded motorist sets off another round of violence and guilt. Guy Newberry, a successful New York–based writer of true-crime books, tries to break out of the slough of despond caused by the death of his wife by digging up the Cascada Canyon graves. He and Rho forge a touchy, believable bond, and Muller's circle of secondary characters is wide and deep, but most readers will come away from this one humming the scenery instead of the plot. (July 31)Forecast:Lots of McCone fans should be drawn to their favorite author's first stand-alone mystery.

May 15, 2001
Marcia Muller without Sharon McCone? Though Muller has other heroines (e.g., art curator Elena Oliverez and art security expert Joanna Stark), McCone is her star, and her most recent effort marks a departure after more than 20 McCone books. Details from an unsolved 13-year-old multiple murder surface after a body is recovered at Point Deception, CA. Soledad County Sheriff's Deputy Rhoda Swift, an appealing mix of vulnerability and competence, joins New York writer Guy Newberry on the Golden State's coast to research the old case and connect recent and past murders. Reopening a crime of yore is a familiar plot device, but Muller moves smoothly from the voice of the murdered woman to Rhoda and Guy, pulling together strands from past and present as evidence is uncovered. In addition to increasing plot complexity, she maintains her ability to develop strong characters that readers care about. For all mystery collections. Ruth H. Miller, Rice Lib., Univ. of Southern Indiana, Evansville

Copyright 2001 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from May 1, 2001
Sharon McCone may be on vacation, but Marcia Muller is in peak condition with this story featuring Rhoda "Rho" Swift, a deputy sheriff in a small northern California coastal town. A woman standing by the edge of a winding cliffside road hopes that someone will stop to help her, but no one does. When she turns up dead, many will feel guilty for what they did or failed to do. When her death appears to be related to an unsolved mass murder that occurred in an isolated canyon near the town, and a writer from New York appears with plans to write a book about the crime, the horrible memories that resurface cause anxiety and hostility, polarizing the citizens. When two more women disappear, Rhoda realizes that these crimes may offer a second chance to prove herself as a detective, and the writer discovers a way to put his personal ghosts to rest. This is a page-turner of the highest quality, fueled by a well-constructed, suspenseful plot. Muller addresses the issue of domestic violence with sensitivity and insight, and, as always, her take on human relationships reflects complexity and feeling.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2001, American Library Association.)