Robert Ellis’ Murder Season is a compelling mystery
thriller. His heroin LAPD homicide
detective Lena Gamble returns for her third murder investigation filled with
danger, political pitfalls, and multiple twists and turns.
Lena Gamble is assigned as lead detective to a double
homicide in Hollywood’s hottest celebrity hangout, Club 3 AM. One victim is the club’s owner, Johnny Bosco
who has connections to LA’s district attorney.
The other is 25-year old Jacob Grant who was recently acquitted for raping
and murdering his 16 year old neighbor, Lily Hight. Grant escaped a guilty verdict on a technicality
so the media has levied its own condemnation.
Lily’s father, Tim Hight is caught on the club’s surveillance video
while leaving the building near the time of the murders. While the press applauds the father’s
supposed revenge that the authorities could not muster, Lena isn’t convinced
Tim Hight is guilty. After searching
both Hight’s and Grant’s homes, she discovers Jacob and Lily had an adult
relationship and that Lily was not the innocent young woman portrayed in the
news. Lena finds she must first
reinvestigate and solve Lily’s murder in order to solve her own case. In doing so, improprieties of the DA’s office
as well as the LAPD are uncovered. Lena
is forced to make snap judgments on whom she can trust within city government
while fearing for her job, her life, and the lives of those involved who know
too much.
Murder Season is a compelling story and Ellis is a master of misdirection. He pulls you in, convinces you the outcome is clear, then reveals another villain. This story has more twists and turns than Mulholland Drive…. perhaps too many. I bought into it right up to the last chapter where he finally crosses the line for me. Still a great read but he needs to back it off a notch…fewer hairpin turns more straight aways. He gave a first class murder mystery an implausible feel in a heartbeat. To me this is what will keep Ellis from being the next Michael Connelly.
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