Woman with a Gun by Phillip Margolin

Woman with a Gun is very different than any other Phillip Margolin book I’ve read as it is developed around an intriguing premise… a photograph of a woman in a wedding dress holding a six shooter.

 

Stacey Kim is an aspiring young author visiting the Museum of Modern Art in New York.  She is fascinated by this Pulitzer winning photograph taken by Kathy Moran.  Stacey is so inspired that she decides to make this the subject of her first novel.  But she needs to learn all she can about the circumstances surrounding the woman in the photograph.  So she goes to Oregon to research the background.  She learns the woman is Megan Cahill of Palisades Heights, Oregon and the picture was taken ten years earlier outside her ocean front home on the night of her wedding, the night her new husband, Raymond Cahill was murdered.  Even though Megan was holding the murder weapon, she was never charged with the crime… in fact no one was.  Kathy Moran was a local waitress with aspirations to be a photographer and just happened on the right place at the right time to snap the shot that launched her career.

Stacey meets with all the players from the decade old murder.  Police detectives, DA’s, Megan’s attorneys, and several known associates of Megan and Kathy.  She learns Kathy had a previous encounter with one of the DA’s five years before the murder.  All this stirring of the pot brings new evidence to light.  Stacey uncovers a connection between Raymond Cahill and his murderer.  But Stacey’s discovery makes her the target of the murderer’s next crime.

Phillip Margolin does a good job of weaving together three apparently unrelated plot lines over a fifteen year period.  Plus the intriguing photograph of a woman in a wedding dress holding a six shooter sets the stage for high expectations.  But as a fan of Margolin from the late 1990’s, I set my expectations a bit too high and came away somewhat disappointed.  While this is a good story and an entertaining read, I know Margolin is capable of more.  Perhaps I need to go back and reread Gone but Not Forgotten or The Last Innocent Man to confirm my perception is indeed a reality.