WENDY HORNSBY – The Paramour’s Daughter. Perseverance Press, trade paperback, 2010.

Genre:   Unlicensed investigator/Journalist. Leading character:   Maggie MacGowen; 7th in series. Setting:   Los Angeles/France.

First Sentence:   “My dear girl!”

    When documentary filmmaker Maggie MacGowen is approached by a woman who claims to be her mother, it is disturbing enough. When that woman is then killed in a deliberate hit-and-run and Maggie learns the woman’s claim is fact, it changes everything. Maggie travels to meet her French family and soon becomes immersed in their lives, problems and threats.

    Wendy Hornsby’s books have always been character driven with an element of suspense, and that is still true. Imagine finding out your past isn’t what you thought. Imagine being introduced to a completely new family about which you’d never known.

    Hornsby does a wonderful job conveying Maggie’s thoughts and feelings at suddenly being put in this situation. The characters become real, as does the occasional awkwardness of Maggie’s situation. But we see Maggie progress and begin to recover from her recent tragedy, including a possible new beginning for her.

    The descriptions are wonderfully visual, both when she is in Paris and in the countryside, and the food, such as real croissant and strawberry jam, is delectable. As always, I love learning something new and here I learned about cheese and about Calvados (French apple brandy); both good things.

    The suspense is there, particularly once we learn the initial accident wasn’t an accident, but there is a wonderful subtlety to it and balance within the story. While I may not feel this is the best of Hornsby’s book, it was still a very good, solid read. She retains her place on my “must buy” list.

Rating:   Very Good.

        The Kate Teague & Lt. Roger Tejada series —

1. No Harm (1987)     (*)
2. Half a Mind (1990)

        The Maggie MacGowen series —

1. Telling Lies (1992)

2. Midnight Baby (1993)
3. Bad Intent (1994)
4. 77th Street Requiem (1995)

5. A Hard Light (1997)
6. In the Guise of Mercy (2009)
7. The Paramour’s Daughter (2010)

(*) According to Al Hubin’s Revised Crime Fiction IV, Maggie MacGowen makes at least a cameo appearance in No Harm.

[UPDATE] 01-23-10.   For a complete bibliography for Wendy Hornsby, add to the list of books above the following collection of short stories. The title story won an Edgar for Best Short Story in 1992. [Thanks to Jeff Meyerson who reminded me of this book in Comment #1. Also note the discussion that follows in #2 and #3.]

Nine Sons and Other Mysteries. Crippen & Landru, 2001.

[UPDATE #2] 01-24-11.   I’ve passed the word along to Al Hubin that Maggie MacGowen does not appear in No Harm. See the comments!