The Cold Blue Blood : A Berger & Mitry Mystery

Rating:
Summary: The advantage of doubt
Review: "The Cold Blue Blood" is the first installment in a new mystery series created by David Handler. Mitch Berger, a New York film critic, and Lieutenant Desirée Mitry of the State Police get tangled up in an elaborate murder plot in Dorset, Connecticut. They also get tangled up with each other, because opposites attract.
Taken as a mystery story on its own merits, the story has a convoluted plot with an old murder that has taken place 30 years earlier, and the inhabitants of a small island who want to preserve their idyllic paradise and keep out intruders.
The bad news is that Handler does not manage to get past cardboard clichés for his characters and their actions and that the whole plot seems to be designed to get Berger and Mitry together. The good news is that Handler has a way with acute and funny observations, that lighten up the narrative.
But in the end, the cute and the artifical seem to win over.
It's quite unavoidable to make a comparison with the previous characters created in Handlers Stewart Hoag series. These stories had a nonsensical atmosphere that worked just fine in pastiches that were very refreshing.
They weren't perfect, but they were new and entertaining.
Handler is a fine craftsman with a great sense of humor. Perhaps the Berger and Mitry series started too serious, or perhaps these new characters must be given time to develop. The verdict will be out with the next installment.

Rating:
Summary: finally found it
Review: a long-time lover of nero wolfe mysteries, i've been looking for something with the same qualities, where people and place are expressed with intelligent and quirky detail, humor and sympathy, and the story rolls along suspensefully, with no easy place to put the book down. i think i've found the replacement, and just wish david handler would keep them coming a bit faster.

Rating:
Summary: Handler taking a different, more serious turn
Review: Did David Handler tire of Stewart Hoag, wry bon vivant and tireless investigator? Or is he just trying to expand the number of franchises? Whatever the reason for abandoning Hoag and picking up a new detective duo -- film critic Mitch Berger and trooper Des Mitry -- this introduction leaves us all a little sorry not to have Stewart swaggering around New York and its smart spots. Setting is important to mysteries and while the Connecticut coast serves, it doesn't sizzle the way Handler's earlier books do; no matter how tepid the plot the characters were always wonderfully eccentric. "Blue Blood" makes me curious about the second Berger mystery, but also hopeful that Hoag is only on hiatus, not abandoned.

Rating:
Summary: An intelligent story and wonderful romance
Review: I fell in love with Mitch and Des. Mr. Handler has written an intelligent story, drawing in the reader and leaving them wanting more.

Rating:
Summary: Very entertaining
Review: I loved this book. It has everything I like in a mystery: good story, great setting (Connecticut's gold coast), 2 very witty, personable and unique main characters with lots of imperfections, and easy-flowing writing. I look forward to more in the series!

Rating:
Summary: Good Mystery, Great Characters,Interracial Romance
Review: I usually don't read mysteries, but this one I liked. It wasn't too serious, but fun. I love the fact that it's an interracial romance and even though the mystery part is good, the romance developing bt. Des and Mitch is what draws you in. Mitch is open with himself and others while Des is afraid to do so. Mitch teaches Des about love and life. They help each other. I also loved the other characters in the book who were crazy in both good and bad ways. I can't wait to read other books in the series and hopes this series last a long time.

Rating:
Summary: Good Mystery, Great Characters,Interracial Romance
Review: I usually don't read mysteries, but this one I liked. It wasn't too serious, but fun. I love the fact that it's an interracial romance and even though the mystery part is good, the romance developing bt. Des and Mitch is what draws you in. Mitch is open with himself and others while Des is afraid to do so. Mitch teaches Des about love and life. They help each other. I also loved the other characters in the book who were crazy in both good and bad ways. I can't wait to read other books in the series and hopes this series last a long time.

Rating:
Summary: A wonderfully quirky pairing
Review: What makes this mystery so enjoyable is not so much the plot (which is good, but perhaps a trifle far-fetched) as the characters & their interrelationships, particularly Mitch & Des. I love the way both of them are presented as less than perfect, & having their wounds from the past. When this detailing is combined with smart & sassy dialogue similar to that of a '30s romantic comedy, a seemingly illogical couple becomes completely convincing, & highly endearing. Kudos to Handler for a great series setup!

Rating:
Summary: A wonderfully quirky pairing
Review: What makes this mystery so enjoyable is not so much the plot (which is good, but perhaps a trifle far-fetched) as the characters & their interrelationships, particularly Mitch & Des. I love the way both of them are presented as less than perfect, & having their wounds from the past. When this detailing is combined with smart & sassy dialogue similar to that of a '30s romantic comedy, a seemingly illogical couple becomes completely convincing, & highly endearing. Kudos to Handler for a great series setup!

Rating:
Summary: A wonderfully quirky pairing
Review: What makes this mystery so enjoyable is not so much the plot (which is good, but perhaps a trifle far-fetched) as the characters & their interrelationships, particularly Mitch & Des. I love the way both of them are presented as less than perfect, & having their wounds from the past. When this detailing is combined with smart & sassy dialogue similar to that of a '30s romantic comedy, a seemingly illogical couple becomes completely convincing, & highly endearing. Kudos to Handler for a great series setup!