Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Woman Strangled—News at Ten-Laurie Moore

Woman Strangled—News at Ten
Laurie Moore
Five Star, Jun 2009, $25.95
ISBN 9781594147623

Aspen Wicklow graduated from the University of North Texas with a degree in journalism and a belief she would soon own the media world. Alas, she is down to double digits in cash and one in prospects. Shocking herself, Aspen obtains a highly regarded job on the Fort Worth TV show Public Defender.

However her first time on the WBFD-TV show, she meets fellow reporter Tig Welder, who warns “Investigative Reporter Barbie” to never scoop or trump him; if she tries she is toast. Station manager J. Gordon Pfeiffer tells her if she wants to stay employed to avoid being the story. Aspen soon meets Johnson County Sheriff Spike Granger when he complains vociferously about overcrowded prisons. She also investigates missing person Candy Drummond, who pledged at the same University of North Texas sorority as she did. Not long afterward her strangled corpse is found and Aspen finds she has broken TV show rules one and two by trumping Tig and becoming part of the story when her inquiries take a life and death of their own.

Laura Moore proves she is not jinxed as she starts a new series starring a fabulous heroine who struggles to adhere to the “rules” while remaining true to herself. The whodunit is fast-paced yet quite amusing and filled with plausible enjoyable twists (a trademark of this author) as Spike and Aspen invesitgate separately and somewhat togetehr (especially when he is checking her out). Fans will enjoy the opening act of a strong journalist mystery.
Harriet Klausner

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