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Murder Reignites Woman's Fire

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By K. SUE COLLINS

The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 16, 2008

"Burn Out," by Marcia Muller (Grand Central Publishing, $25)

Marcia Muller's latest Sharon McCone mystery, "Burn Out," shines new light on her continuing private investigator series. Muller ignited the trend of independent female private detectives, which thrived in the 1980s, with Sue Grafton and Sara Paretsky. In her newest outing, Sharon displays an uncharacteristic vulnerability.

Emotionally on her last rung, she contemplates a career change.

Settled in at her husband Hy's California desert ranch, she struggles with depression, a sickness neither therapy nor prescriptions can cure. She contends with employees at McCone Investigations left leaderless and awaiting her return. Sharon finds herself sucked back into the life she had wanted to escape.

A simple inquiry about a friend's teenage niece explodes into buried secrets and murder. Although unsure that she wants to continue her chosen career, Sharon finds herself compelled to solve the case.

A runaway teenager and her dead sister and institutionalized mother provide Sharon with a break from her own melancholy by giving her a new purpose. Her trek to unearth the truth takes her to Nevada, where her newfound American Indian heritage opens doors in the investigation.
Mystery lovers new to the Sharon McCone series should have no problem adapting. Those who have followed Marcia Muller's series from "Edwin of the Iron Shoes" in the 1970s will enjoy her new take on Sharon as she progresses to the present.

K. Sue Collins of Tampa is a crime novelist.

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