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Summary
Summary
"Murder Off Mike" introduces Shauna J. Bogart, a small and sassy radio talk show host/amateur sleuth. Shauna J. is used to dealing with the controversial, the contentious, the cranky, and the just plain crazed as the host of the afternoon gab fest on the top-rated station in California's state capital. But nothing prepares her for the day a fellow shock jock turns up with a bullet in his head. The cops say it's suicide, but Shauna J. isn't buying it. She launches her own investigation, putting herself at peril.
Her investigation, aided and abetted by her loyal callers, leads her to a shattering secret that could derail the campaign of the leading candidate for governor. Meanwhile, behind-the-scenes shenanigans threaten the very existence of the radio station Shauna J. calls home.
The action climaxes in a down-to-the-second pursuit through the streets of historic Old Sacramento during the city's world-famous Jazz Jubilee. Armed with only a roll of copper wire, a pirate radio transmitter, and her ingenuity, can Shauna J. get the station back on the air in time to reveal the truth to her listeners?
Author Notes
Like the heroine of Murder Off Mike , Joyce Krieg is a veteran broadcaster, both on the air and behind the scenes. Her many awards and honors include being named "Professional of the Year" by the Sacramento Public Relations Association and being inducted into the Valley Broadcast Legends for working in local radio for more than twenty years. She lives in Pacific Grove, California.
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Politics, greed and murder combine with an intriguing behind-the-scenes look at contemporary talk radio in Krieg's superb debut, featuring fresh, smart and feisty sleuth Shauna J. Bogart. As the popular host of a radio talk show in Sacramento, Calif., Shauna J. deals daily with a cast of quirky characters, including Lenny from Rio and Ferretman Bob. Rudy from West Sacramento, a first-time caller with an odd accent ("Who does this guy think he is with the phony Iron Curtain accent? Boris Badenov?"), phones to report sinister goings-on in a building near the State Capitol where Shauna's mentor and co-worker Dr. Hipster lives, and Shauna has a colleague alert the cops. At the scene the police find Hipster with a bullet in his head and what appears to be a suicide note. Suspecting foul play, Shauna begins her own investigation, which will lead her into the discovery of long past events that put her, and those around her, in jeopardy. So vividly does the author describe the Sacramento Jazz Jubilee and the streets and heat of the city in May, one can hear the music, feel the crowds. Peppered with apt references to popular culture ("Either the entire cast of La Cage aux Folles had set up camp in my bedroom, or Glory Lou was preparing for my makeover for the Jazz Band Ball"), this riveting mystery will leave readers eager for the sequel. (Apr.) FYI: This title won the 2002 St. Martin's Press/Malice Domestic contest for Best First Traditional Mystery. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
The winner of the 2002 St. Martin's Press/Malice Domestic Contest for Best First Traditional Mystery, Krieg's debut reads like the work of a seasoned mystery writer--in many ways, in fact, it reads better than the work of many genre veterans. To start with, Krieg gives the reader a fascinating backdrop (not merely setting) for the story, the embattled world of talk radio. Her heroine is no Grafton or Paretsky wanna-be, but a quirky, well-fleshed-out creation. And Krieg handles plot twists and turns with panache. Her heroine, Shauna J. Bogart, commands the afternoon news and talk block on Sacramento's only surviving independent radio station. In the midst of fielding calls and promos one afternoon, Bogart gets an especially (and that's saying a lot) strange call in which the caller claims to have witnessed the murder of Dr. Hipster, the star rock dj at Shauna's station. Dr. Hipster doesn't arrive for his show and, hours later, is found dead, with a suicide note that blames Shauna Bogart. Once Shauna discovers that Dr. Hipster's last promo was a coded call for help, she launches her own investigation, which takes her from the subterranean world of ex-hippies to Sacramento's high-profile movers and shakers. Krieg's absorbing mystery couples well with her terrific insider account of talk radio (e.g., "Never take calls from women named after months or flowers" ). Connie Fletcher
Kirkus Review
At Sacramento Talk, Shauna J. Bogart is still the only full-time, on-air employee "who uses the rest room with the Tampax machine." Retrograde hiring practices aside, Shauna, brash, brainy, on the cusp of 40, and as politically incorrect as the law allows, loves her radio station, the amiable wackiness of her loyal audience, and a fast-talking, soft-hearted colleague billed as Dr. Hipster--loves him, that is, the way you love a mentor or a big brother--until he dies of a bullet the Sacramento PD insists he put into his own head. Moreover, there's a suicide note, addressed to Shauna herself, in which Dr. Hipster blames his despair on unrequited passion. No way, says Shauna J. once the first shock has passed. To begin with, Dr. Hipster--active, enthusiastic, pleased as punch with life--just doesn't make sense as a suicide. Nor is he any more credible as her lethally rejected lover. But why has he been murdered? Did his investigative-reporter side get him uncomfortably close to someone's dangerous secret? Of course it did--a secret Shauna has to sniff out before she can return to the safe-and-sane world of talk radio as usual: "On line two, Diane wants to know if it's true Bill Gates is giving away his entire fortune, and all you have to do to get your share is e-mail five friends." Funny, feisty Shauna J., whose debut won the 2002 St. Martin's Press/Malice Domestic contest for Best First Traditional Mystery, is certainly a keeper. She deserves a stronger storyline next time out. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
