I have read every book in Joan Livingston's Isabel Long series so it will not surprise anybody that I enjoy the books. The author is witty and clever, the stories neat and gripping. The question really is only how much did I enjoy the most recent book in the series, Missing The Deadline.
The Blurb
As Isabel Long has discovered, a case can come from unexpected people and situations. This time, it’s at a poetry reading, where she is approached by Cyrus Nilsson. Once a suspect in a previous case, the noted poet wants her to investigate the shooting of his first literary agent.
Gerald Danielson was found shot in the head at his home in Meadows Falls. He survived but isn’t the same successful agent who moved there from New York City. The police ruled it an attempted suicide, but Cyrus has his doubts. Certainly there are people, including a vindictive ex-wife, a jilted local writer, and even an apparently devoted sister, who might have motive.
It doesn’t take much to convince Isabel to take on this case. After all, her mother, Maria, who is her ‘Watson,’ says it’s boring without one.
As a journalist, Isabel Long never missed a deadline. She does the same as a P.I. although in this case, the term means something entirely different.
The Review
One of the things that comes with reading a series is that you become familiar with the recurring characters and feel for them. I enjoy the relationship this author has created between her title character and her mother. It was probably that, and the setting in rural NE USA that drew me to the series in the first place.
This book is even better and more gripping that earlier books in the series. The subject matter gripping and gritty. The victim has not been killed but has suffered a severe brain injury - my worst nightmare. Not only that but all the suspects are credible.
I do not do spoilers, but I highly recommend not only Missing the Deadline, but the rest of the Isabel Long series by Joan Livingston.
The Author
Joan Livingston is the author of novels for adult and young readers, including the Isabel Long Mystery Series. Chasing the Case, Redneck's Revenge, Checking the Traps, Killing the Story, Working the Beat, Following the Lead, and Missing the Deadline, published by darkstroke books, are the seven books thus far in the series, featuring a longtime journalist who becomes an amateur P.I. solving cold cases in rural New England.
Joan draws upon her own experience as a longtime journalist in Massachusetts and New Mexico to create Isabel Long, a sassy, savvy widow who uses the skills she acquired in the business to solve what appears to be impossible cases. She also relies on her deep knowledge of rural Western Massachusetts, where she lives, to create realistic characters and settings.
She also relied on those insights while writing The Sacred Dog, Northern Comfort, and The Sweet Spot, all set in the fictional hilltowns of Western Mass.
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