Strawgirl

Rating:
Summary: Imaginative, well-written and unputdownable
Review: Abigail Padgett is one of today's best mystery writers, right up there with Laurie R. King (and that's high praise). "Strawgirl" is the second in her series about Bo Bradley, a manic-depressive investigator of child-abuse cases. Sounds like a downer, but it's not. Ms. Padgett's skillful, imaginative writing, ingenious plotting and complex characterization make this fascinating reading, high on my list of unputdownable books. Bo Bradley is a most admirable, courageous and likable character, as is psychiatrist and cult researcher Eva Blindhawk Broussard, who is introduced in "Strawgirl." I hope the publisher will make this book available again soon. I had to seek out a secondhand copy, and it was well worth the effort.

Rating:
Summary: Great storytelling and characterization
Review: Abigail Padgett is one of today's best mystery writers, right up there with Laurie R. King. "Strawgirl" is the second in her series about Bo Bradley, a manic-depressive child-abuse investigator. Sounds like a downer, but it's not. Ms. Padgett's literate writing, deft storytelling ability and complex characterization make this a most enjoyable read. Bo Bradley is an admirable, courageous and likable character, as is the psychiatrist and cult researcher Eva Blindhawk Broussard, who is introduced in "Strawgirl." I had to seek out a secondhand copy of this book, and it was well worth the effort.

Rating:
Summary: Great storytelling and characterization
Review: Abigail Padgett is one of today's best mystery writers, right up there with Laurie R. King. "Strawgirl" is the second in her series about Bo Bradley, a manic-depressive child-abuse investigator. Sounds like a downer, but it's not. Ms. Padgett's literate writing, deft storytelling ability and complex characterization make this a most enjoyable read. Bo Bradley is an admirable, courageous and likable character, as is the psychiatrist and cult researcher Eva Blindhawk Broussard, who is introduced in "Strawgirl." I had to seek out a secondhand copy of this book, and it was well worth the effort.

Rating:
Summary: A Book About Survivors
Review: I don't know how the novel of crime (no use calling it a mystery because this book does not follow the standard mystery format of crime, suspects, detective discovers identity of criminal, at all) has become a favored method by which writers examine society. It probably says something about our society that here the killer and the bureaucrats seem equally souless.

Abigail Padgett has a message. The message is that the mentally ill are more often the victims than the perpetrators of criminal acts. Her positive characters are all survivors. Bo, her main character is a manic depressive, the sole surviving member of her family. Eva Boussard, a psychiatrist, is the survivor (so far) of breast cancer. Rombo is a surviver of alcoholism and hatred by his father. Andy became a pediatrician after his daughter drowned due to neglect.

And all of these people go on doing the best that they can, sometimes getting side tracked from their own purposes because of their basic humanity in an effort to save a little girl whose sister was raped and whose mother committed suicide, free an innocent man and stop the real killer. And they do it with grace, humor and much humanity.

Highly recommend.

Rating:
Summary: Awesome story!
Review: I have read every one of Padgett's books, and enjoy them all tremendously. These are mystery stories written for literate, thoughtful people, and I can't understand why Padgett's books are so hard to get! Abigail Padgett is a thoughtful, lyrical author who assumes her readers will "get it" without spoonfeeding. I read this book "out of sequence", but am grateful to get my hands on anything this talented woman writes in any way I can.