Murder by Death

I'd rank this one in personal like-ability as #3 out of the four books.  

Molly is finally assigned a feature article, instead of stumbling across a dead body and getting a story out of it.  This time the body's been dead for weeks and she just has to write an in-depth story about the widow.  Who's the prime suspect.

I cannot read this book without thinking of Robert Palmer's Simply Irresistible music video.  The murder victim (who is killed before the story takes place, so a bit of a different spin on the typical murder mystery, where the murder takes place during the story) is an advertising executive at the top of his game.  HIs secret to success?  His harem.  His top 6 executives are all women, and all, of course, are stunningly gorgeous.  Hence the Robert Palmer flashbacks.

There are a lot of obvious reasons people would have wanted Garth dead, but Molly's research and interviews start revealing the more hidden reasons the man was such a blight and starts to put her relationship with her NYPD detective-boyfriend in jeopardy.

I am not afraid to admit that while reading these books (or re-reading them, as the case may be), I became emotionally invested in these characters.  Molly, Kyle, Tricia, Cassady - all of them.  So in some ways this book was as hard a read as the second book - Ms. Anderson doesn't shy away from painful conflict portrayed in a realistic fashion.  It's not too heavy or angsty, but in Molly's world, there are consequences for the actions she takes and the decisions she makes.

I think I've only mentioned it two or three times, so I'll say it again:  I'm really disappointed that Ms. Anderson stopped at four books.  I'd have loved to see where these characters went over time.