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Who Killed Marcia Maynard?: The Psychoanalyst is Dead

Alma Bond
ASJA Press (2007)
ISBN 9780595458967
Reviewed by Michelle McCaffrey for RebeccasReads (3/08)

The book “Who Killed Marcia Maynard?” starts as a tentative whodunit that continues to creep up on you, just like the killer in the story.  As I am not usually a fan of murder mysteries or crime shows, this book changed my viewpoints on that.  The author, Alma Bond, presents it in such a way that you keep waiting for more so that you can solve the mystery.  The fact that she herself is a psychoanalyst makes this book very believable and the characters of the story very real.

Intricately detailed descriptions of crime investigation coupled with the author’s knowledge of psychoanalysis in the storytelling makes this novel all the more interesting.
This is definitely not your run-of-the-mill crime-solving mystery book.  Woven into the mystery is a story of the relationship between the main characters, Mary and John, as well as those of other people who impact their life, love and relationship.  Mary and John teamed together are the perfect sleuths with a deep need to solve this case as they both have personal ties to the victim.  This endears the reader to these two characters even more.

The author provides not only the backdrop of crime scene investigations but weaves the ideas of trust, belief and love into this compelling murder mystery.  At times, although I felt the author did seem to ramble, she easily returned to the basis of the story, and this in itself did not deter from the book.  There was more description of the gruesomeness of the crime than I needed, but not being a murder mystery aficionado, I cannot say that this was not needed.   It was a real page turner and kept the reader guessing until the end.

In conclusion, I would recommend “Who Killed Marcia Maynard?,” especially if you are like me and not one who reads mysteries, murder or otherwise.  I found it easy to read and extremely interesting.  Teaming a psychoanalyst and a detective as both the mystery solving duo as well as lovers makes this much more than your average murder mystery.


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