The Last Blue Plate Special - Softcover

Padgett, Abigail

3.89

129 ratings by Goodreads

9780446678681: The Last Blue Plate Special

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0446678686 ISBN 13: 9780446678681

Publisher: Mysterious Press, 2002

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Blue McCarron is a gay social psychologist who lives in an abandoned motel in the desert outside San Diego. She has teamed up with Roxie Bouchie, an African American (and country line-dancing) prison staff psychiatrist--and their newest case is a baffling one.

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From Publishers Weekly:

A funny, idiosyncratic cast of characters and a cunningly developed series of murders are the highlights in an otherwise middling sequel to 1998's Blue, which introduced social psychologist and amateur shamus Blue McCarron. Here Blue and her foxy lover, prison psychiatrist Roxie Bouchie, join detective Wes Rathbone and his wife, Annie, and Blue's Doberman, Bront?, in nosing through San Diego and the surrounding desert in search of the fanatic who is murdering prominent local female politicians. The murderer, who leaves a Blue Willow china plate as a calling card after each killing, is somehow causing women who have had plastic surgery at a posh clinic where the blue plates are part of the d?cor to suffer fatal strokes. Who hates successful women enough to commit wanton murder? Is it one of the members of the clinic's staff? Is it a political enemy? Or could it be a random religious fanatic who leaves messages from "The Sword in Heaven" (Isaiah 34) for Blue and the cops after the murders? Unfortunately, a buildup that promises a racy, risqu?, zany story never really pays off. Some readers will applaud the feminist political sentiments, but others will find the novel ultimately as flat and dry as the desert sand. (Mar. 7) Forecast: Padgett, author of the Bo Bradley series (Strawgirl), has a strong following among feminist mystery fans, but this so-so effort is unlikely to help her win the broader audience her publisher is seeking with its concerted marketing and promotion campaign.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal:

When two prominent female politicians die in San Diego of cerebral hemorrhages within days of each other, social psychologist Blue McCarron knows that their deaths are a statistical impossibilityDthey simply cannot be from natural causes. Within hours, a female evangelist almost dies, and threats from a religious fanatic, illustrated with blue willow plates, tie the three victims together. Blue and her lover, Roxanne, a criminal psychiatrist, are hired by the police as consultants and trace the three women to a posh plastic surgery clinic. As Blue and Rox investigate the clinic, the killer turns his attention on Blue, a strong, nontraditional woman who offends his ultraconservative religious beliefs. When Blue finds a blue willow plate on the doorstep of her isolated desert home, she knows the hunt has become a deadly game and that the unknown killer has every advantage. This second mystery featuring Blue McCarron (following Blue, LJ 10/1/98) is full of unpredictable turns and is totally enthralling. Blue and Rox are funny and sweet, brave yet scared, as they navigate their new relationship amid the terrifying hunt for a serial killer. Highly recommended for public libraries.DKaren Anderson, Quarles & Brady/Streich Lang, Phoenix
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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