Seven Suspects by Renee James / Review by Danny Lindsey
Seven Suspects
By Renee James
Oceanview Publishing
$26.95
ISBN: 978-1608092550
Published: October 3, 2017
Book of the Day
Seven Suspects is the third and latest installment of The Bobbi Logan Detective Series. I'm not sure why I chose this book. After all, a deep South, straight, male, baby boomer, retired Army officer is hardly the intended audience. Add to that the fact that I am not accustomed to, and usually not appreciative of first-person present tense writing, particularly from the POV of a transsexual woman.
Bobbi Logan has seemingly made a successful transition from male to female. Her salon is successful, and her life (mostly) in balance. Sex appears to be confusing, as one who has not chosen her path might imagine. She is haunted by the memory and experience of being raped, and her freedom of movement is circumscribed by that. A stalker exacerbates the situation, and Bobbi decides to take the initiative. Her list of suspects, and their interactions with her form the bulk of the book. A former lover and police detective at various times supports her, assists her, and attempts to dissuade her from aggressively ferreting out her adversary, all the time adding to the tension. The ending and the denouement leave the reader surprised, satisfied, and prepared to follow Bobbi’s character into the next installment in the series.
I did not expect to like it. Funny thing is, I liked it. A lot. Quirky? Yes. Overly (to me) concerned about being assaulted? Yes. Unrealistic? Yes, again, to me. But I liked the flow, the story, the book, and would most certainly recommend it. I'm still not sure why. But I may re-read it, and will certainly look for Renee James' next work.
Danny Lindsey keeps trying to retire. After a 20-year Army career and a 25-year second one in the private sector, he’s finally settled down. His current gig is as the Veteran Employment Services Manager for a Huntsville, A.L. based non-profit, Still Serving Veterans. Both full careers were characterized by numerous writing assignments, from war plans to operating policies and procedures, then on to white papers, analyses of alternatives and competitive contract and grant proposals. Now his writing consists of blogs for the website www.ssv.org, podcasts for the local NPR affiliate, and a half dozen Pulitzer-worthy, albeit unpublished novels.
Update: Danny won the 2017 Killer Nashville Claymore Award with his manuscript Serial Justice - so he will not be unpublished for long!