Spending the Weekend with Shirley Kennett! And Thinking About My Connection with JP Gray Versus Maliha Crayne...

A celebrated pianist has been found dead, decapitated by a sharp instrument, possibly a meat cleaver. His head is still missing.

For psychologist and single mother PJ Gray, starting life over in a new city, and veteran homicide cop Leo Schultz, it is only the beginning of a savage nightmare that will hold the entire city of St. Louis in a death-grip.

He's a face in the crowd. An anonymous figure in the shadows. The most unstoppable serial killer in history. Until PJ Gray discovers who he is.

At the mercy of a cunning monster with no mercy to give, it will take all her instincts as a psychologist and a woman to beat him at his own game.

A busy St. Louis hospital uses its computer to issue medical orders for its patients. When someone decides to tamper with the hospitals's efficient system, the results are deadly. First, a wealthy, elderly patient dies...then a diabetic man is administered an overdose of insulin. In both cases, the hospital insists it is blameless. But PJ Gray, a psychologist and expert in the groundbreaking field of forensic computer simulation, suspects foul play.Teaming up with veteran homicide cop Leo Schultz, PJ is hunting a cunning computer hacker who always manages to be one step ahead of them. And as they uncover clues that give them insight into this brilliant--yet tortured--predator's mind. PJ begins to comprehend the monstrous plan he has hatched. With time quickly becoming PJ's enemy, she must use her skills to enter his dark psyche. For the killer has just issued her a horrifying challenge: guess his next move--or many more will die.

As if a killer running amok in her city isn't enough to make cybersleuth PJ Gray uneasy, her twelve-year-old son Thomas has become surly and withdrawn. PJ thinks it's the influence of his new school friend, a curiously aloof computer genius named Columbus. But before she can find out what's troubling her usually outgoing kid, the killer strikes again: only this time it's one of Thomas' teachers who is viciously slaughtered. PJ is horrified that murder has moved into her son's world, but even she doesn't realize how close the danger is... Until she discovers that Columbus is the mastermind of a secret virtual world
--one in which he designs murder scenarios eerily similar to the ones paralyzing the city. Suddenly PJ finds herself waging cyber war with a foe who may still be a child, but whose skills are more than equal to her own...


Connecting with Characters...


After I read Dakota Banks, I wanted to know more about her earlier writing life, so while I talked with her during the month I was spotlighting Dakota, I found that Shirley Kennett had been writing for quite a number of years! I don't know about you, but when I find an author that I thoroughly enjoy, I start looking for more...


Although Kennett is now working to republish her novels in ebook form, I went out and bought as many of her books under this name as I could find. I highly recommend all of Kennett's books!


Those shown above were the last three and I must say that having a readathon with Shirley Kennett makes a wonderful way to spend a weekend! You just need to be prepared with a little food and drink, because once you start...you'll want to keep on reading!


I loved the characters in the PJ Gray Series--and that's what the majority of this article will cover.  I'm looking forward to being able to finding the remaining books in the series when they are republished!


When I saw the covers, showing  Maliha Crayne, the lead character, of Dakota Banks' books, they got me excited to read them--I expected action, adventure, and even some kick-ass female activities that placed the lead in tough situations, all of which she would amazingly get out of by exhibiting her excellent and superior superwoman skills. And I got exactly that and loved them!


However, Dakota Banks created a clearly fictional character--one that is cool, hip, and aimed to please today's audience!


But when I met PJ Gray...ah, I felt like I already knew her. She's a dedicated  professional, she's highly intelligently, and, mostly, for me, she's believable... What I mean is that she is a woman I could more easily relate to--she's someone I could personally enjoy and get to know. She would be a potential role model for many women and she's had to battle the sexual discrimination that many of us have faced in our professional careers.


Ok, I'm going to take it even further and state that I connected with her because of her age, her life as a single mother, the physical characteristics she was given, and her sharing issues about a potential romantic life, given her professional position, having a child, and her now dealing with a lower income, as many women find they must do.


Sure, Maliha Crayne took me away with her into her fantasy adventures and I was caught up in the escape from reality that she surely does provide...but, when I think back to her, I think of all the battles, the weapons and special gadgets that she used to amaze us. I don't, in fact, remember much about her personally.


But PJ I remember. Actually I read these books weeks ago and the other one months ago...and like the two Dakota Banks, I don't have a clear memory of the complete storyline of the books at this time. But I remember PJ (Penelope Jennifer)...


I remember her wanting to leave where she had been living to start over after being divorced. I remember that she had gotten into computer simulation and had decided to merge her professional credentials as a psychologist to become the only civilian member in a newly formed unit (with the St. Louis Police Department's new unit, the Computerized Homicide Investigations Project). I enjoyed learning from her more about the future role of computers in creating and simulating crime scenes and that excited me as a "user" nerd for computers--by that I mean that I don't have the technical expertise, but I'm an enthusiast about the potentiality of computers and how they can be used in meeting the needs of the business environment and especially crime scene activities. 


I enjoyed when she got there to find that the agreements understood during her interview were not there and probably weren't going to happen...and that her office was a former closet, with no ventilation, and faced the door to the men's room. Typical?


I remember her first meeting Detective Leo Schultz who was the only other person initially signed to her new unit and how badly she was teased and/or insulted and how she worked to develop a working relationship, gain his respect for her professionally as well as personally, and bring him into his acceptance of the virtual world that would begin to be the standard...


Having PJ as a single mother was also intriguing to me. I had worked with many women over my professional life and knew the commitments and time issues for working mothers, so watching her son adapt to the loss of his father, while also moving and having less money, was compelling and memorable...and familiar...


Soooo, do you ever connect to characters in books you read? Do you, like me, enjoy escaping into mystery, thrillers and action adventure, forgetting everything and everybody in "real life" for the hours you spend  away from it all? I certainly do!


But, for personal taste, when I want to get into a series, when I've found an author that I really enjoy reading, I find that it is usually based upon the characters in that series and how they relate to my own life...


And if they have cats in their lives, as characters...well, I won't go into that right now...LOL


What about it? Are characters an important part in your deciding to read additional books by an author? Or is the storyline and genre what pulls you in?


What is that old phrase: Inquiring minds want to know...!???

http://gabixlerreviews-bookreadersheaven.blogspot.com/2011/04/time-of-death-highlights-virtual.html
http://gabixlerreviews-bookreadersheaven.blogspot.com/2011/04/review-burning-rose-by-shirley-kennett.html

Time of Death Highlights Virtual Reality in Crime Solving!

Image via Wikipedia

Image via Wikipedia

PJ's son Thomas faced his online Avatar enemy in reality!

Time of Death:


A JP Gray Novel


By Shirley Kennett










I started with the latest novel in the PJGray series so I'd be able to add my review during my spotlight of Author Shirley Kennett/Dakota Banks. I must say I thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to reading the other books in the series. The JP Gray novels have a number of my favorite attractions--a strong female lead, a fun-to-watch relationship with another unique character, futuristic use of computers in solving crimes, and a tense, fast-paced drama that succeeds in allowing me to escape into the action!

They say love is blind but that doesn't seem to be the case for Dr. Penelope Jennifer Gray (PJ Gray), psychologist and head of a special unit which uses virtual reality software, created by Dr. Gray, to help solve crimes. Detective Leo Schultz is the head "cop" in her unit and makes it quite clear to PJ that she is a civilian and that he leads the actual police work. In addition to the role issues, Leo is not exactly the man of a woman's dreams, but somehow the two have evolved into a relationship, and now not quite sure what to do with it. But PJ definitely knows what role she plays as Leo's boss and also is quite vocal to share about how he treats her in front of the other officers, how she is to be treated and addressed. Still, it seems the relationship just keeps going...

But in a family drama that PJ and her son faces, Leo proves just how he would be in the father role, as he comes to the rescue of Thomas who got in too deep with an online game group, with a member that has moved the role playing into reality and is out to gather gems that apparently Thomas is supposed to provide!

That could be part of the reason for the cool ending of this particular novel...

But in the meantime, PJ and Leo have a nude body--found, apparently dumped, along the river--with his face, chest, and genitals mutilated. It is very interesting to watch the photos of the body and scene, as well as gathered evidence entered into a simulation program which PJ then uses to run through "live" as potentially what happened. In the Afterword the author explains what is now available and used, but in her novel, PJ has added artificial intelligence which has the computer offering solutions as well. How Cool! Its use is illustrated quite effectively when, after finding the kill site, the method by which one person, or not, could have handled movement of the body is explored and confirmed.

As with many homicide investigations, family members are the first "persons of interest." I prefer the older less politically correct term, actually--suspect is a much more definitive term, don't you think?

And in this family, two sisters are quite willing to ensure the police consider "the other" sister as the most likely to have killed the dead man, Arlan Merrett. Readers soon find out that Arlan had been engaged to one sister when the other first met and worked to seduce him, and later married.

But there are many more options, including the man's business partner who received total control of their firm upon death and was found to have been having an affair with the deceased.

Step by step, more information is discovered and PJ faithfully feeds it into the program so that a total picture of what happened starts to unfold. Apparently, she was getting close because about that time attempts on PJ's life were made. The protective side of Leo about PJ was fun to watch, although PJ was not thrilled to have her every move monitored...

Discovering family secrets leads to the final solution of this case, but the step-by-step investigation of the crime scene activities was the highlight for me. The author definitely can weave a tale that keeps readers totally involved with the myriad of possibilities and the characters are so well defined that you just know that any one of the  "suspects" could be guilty. Unfortunately, the body count began to rise, making the complexity that more of a problem for the police and there are two different types of murders so that the potential of multiple killers must be investigated.

Adding virtual reality to police procedure investigation just makes it better! Crime scene investigation at its finest, with a romance between an older couple which you just might be able to relate to, but definitely enjoy! What better way to spend a weekend! Highly recommended.


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