nice departure for Marcia Muller

books:


	• Cape Perdido Marcia Muller Mysterious Press, 2005 - 320 pages average customer review:based on 14 reviews view larger image
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The Truth Shall Set You Free

This is one of Muller's few non-Sharon McCone mysteries, & it's very different from that series. While told chronologically, within each day are sub-chapters focusing on individual characters. Each time that character is revisited, the reader learns more about that character & others as well. There are several mysteries woven into the plot but the two main ones are the external--fight between local & NY "environmentalists" & a corporation wishing to export Perdido River water to LA--and internal--an unsolved old murder involving many of the main characters. Avoiding the pitfalls of a binary or black & white mentality, Muller skillfully rounds virtually all of her characters by revealing their shadow sides. Thus, this novel is more appealing to a mature reader especially one interested in reality & human psychology. Still, there is considerable action in it & the mystery (though difficult to unravel) is fairly presented. The environmental story shows the dark side of so-called environmentalists who would stop at almost nothing to win (both locals & New Yorkers) with the less-that-perfect heroine still a foil to them. There's a lot of role reversal too--some white hats turn dark while some black hats get lighter. The corporate coalition (including the man providing the right-of-way fares the same. Assumptions are, after all, the stock-in-trade of the mystery writer. True, the story starts out slowly, but it builds up speed--I couldn't put it down at the end. The denoument was a bit disappointing--even though I did (finally) figure out who the killer must be, but overall the book was an innovative, even remarkable achievement. If you are looking for a standard mystery, this may not be the book for you. But, if you are into characterizations, realistic depictions of people (vs. stereotypes), this book may very well speak to you. If you have any secrets, this tale of a skeleton closet may strike a chord. It also has a message: keeping secrets may seem okay on the surface, but it's a loser in the long-term. The Truth can set you free.

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Not a Sharon McCone mystery

Cape Perdido is the present story of a fight for water in northern California and the ramifications of big business against the little man. A conglomerate wants to take the water from the local river and ship it to southern California in huge rubber bags and the local people are fighting to prevent it.

Jessie Domingo is trying to get established as an environmentalist, she`s had several bad experiences and comes to Cape Perdido hoping that this will make her career. Her developing friendship with the environmentalist lawyer was one of the best relationships in the book. The two of then become involved in the personal lives of the local people and their stories. At that point, an old unsolved murder becomes the main focus and the story changes direction. The old crime and the lives that were affected by it become the central theme.

This book was not as good as her Sharon McCone books. The background story was confusing, people overreacted and the protagonist changed with every chapter.
Ms Muller tried to present the story from too many view points so lost the continuity the book needed.

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nice departure for Marcia Muller

With Cape Perdido, Marcia Muller takes a break from her Sharon McCone series and focuses on an unlikely venue for murder- water rights in a small California coastal town. When a company threatens to siphon off water from the river and float it in huge inflatable bags to dry communities further north, the townspeople join together to fight the action.

I was actually very involved in the ecological aspects of the book and was disappointed when it suddenly diverted to focus on an old crime. It seemed as though the water rights issue was just an opportunity to bring the players together so that the older mystery could unfold. The mystery itself was okay, but I would like to have seen Muller stretch herself a little bit by focusing more on the water rights issue and making this into a true conservation mystery.

She did leave things open for future mysteries involving her ecologists, and I would like to see more of them. Let's just hope that next time, she leaves the historical baggage behind and focuses on the issue of corporate rights vs. regional rights, and conservation of resources.

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Eco murders

Jessie Domingo is an ecologist who has been flown in from New York to a small town on the northern California coast, to help locals in their fight against a huge corporation who has claimed the right, under Californian law, to collect the town's water in massive rubber bags, which would be towed to more arid areas, for a huge profit. Old crimes, old vows of vengeance for real or imagined grievances, all come to the fore as greed battles with common sense. Old alliances break and old enemies join forces in this story of murder in a small community. Unfortunately, it just hasn't got the magic "it" factor which makes a book sing for me.

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Not Her Best

Marcia Muller is my favorite author, and while I love the Sharon McCone series, I've also enjoyed her stand-alones. However, this one just didn't do it for me.

I found all the environmental stuff boring, so the book didn't hold my interest the way her books normally do. I also didn't really care all that much about any of the characters, since I didn't feel they were that fully developed. Had this book been written by anyone other than MM, I probably wouldn't have even finished it.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3

The critically acclaimed author of the Sharon McCone series delivers a rivetingnew mystery about a small town pitted against a foreign corporation. At the northernmost point of Soledad County lies Cape Perdido-once a lumber town, now a getaway for tourists and outdoor recreationists. But when the water harvesting plans of a North Carolina company threaten the residents' livelihoods, four people get caught up in the fight to save the town: Jessie Domingo, a community liaison specialist from New York City; Joseph Openshaw, an environmentalist forced to face ghosts of his past; Steph Pace, a restaurateur and former love of Openshaw's who must confront the same ghosts; and Timothy McNear, a former lumber mill owner who harbors secrets of his own. The arrival of the 'waterbaggers' will drive otherwise peaceful people to desperate acts, and a dramatic series of events-including a sniper's bullet, a midnight inferno, and an abduction-will awaken the residents of Cape Perdido to unsavory truths about their town and each other.

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