Pushing Murder

Rating:
Summary: A charming character mired in a poor story
Review: Clara Gamadge, grandmother and sleuth, wakes up a week before Christmas in a hospital bed, the victim of an aresenic-tainted *hors d'oeuvre* and a fall when the poison took affect. She had been at the grand opening of a bookstore owned by her friend and her friend's new husband. Initially, Clara believes that she was merely an accidental and unintended victim, for she can think of nobody who would wish her dead. But a second attempt on her life soon convinces her otherwise. Constrained to her hospital room, which soon becomes one of the busiest places in New York, Clara soon learns the identity of the killer. Proving it, though, will be the problem, and there are others in danger. "Pushing Murder" is an enjoyable story, though it is not much of a mystery since the who and the how are not long in issue. Author Eleanor Boylan's writing style is certainly engaging, and the character of Clara Gamadge, especially during her medicine-induced fogs, is a thoroughly entertaining one. Sadly, though, the story is fatally flawed in two ways. The characters go through a great deal of effort to avoid telling the police anything, but it seems extraordinarily unlikely that a woman admitted to the hospital with arsenic poisoning would not come to the attention of the police to begin with. Further, the entire motive for the actions of both Clara and the killer is the gathering of evidence. And yet they seriously misunderstand the law. I cannot say more without giving away too much of the plot, but suffice it to say that the entire story depends on the characters overlooking a fundamental point about public records. In this sense, "Pushing Murder" shares much in common with Grisham's "The Client." Had anybody had the sense immediately to make a phone call in the beginning, the story would have ended after only forty or fifty pages. Despite these serious plot holes, though, Boylan's writing style makes the story not only readable but enjoyable.