The Color of Fear

Starred review from June 26, 2017
The savage beating of Sharon McCone’s 82-year-old father by a gang of thugs kicks off MWA Grand Master Muller’s outstanding 34th mystery featuring the San Francisco PI (after 2016’s Someone Always Knows). McCone’s father, nationally known Native American painter Elwood Farmer, arrived in San Francisco from Montana two days earlier for the Christmas holidays. He was shopping for gifts in the city’s Marina district when he was assaulted in what may have been a racially motivated attack. SFPD Sgt. Priscilla Anders, however, suspects the beating may be tied to Farmer’s relationship to McCone, and that theory seems more and more plausible after a break-in at McCone’s office and vandalism directed at her employees. The stakes rise when McCone becomes the target of cyberattacks and death threats. She pursues a number of leads, many of which fail to pan out and others that are frustratingly vague, but she eventually discovers that a hate group may be involved after all. At the exciting climax, McCone valiantly arms herself and goes into action alone. Agent: Molly Friedrich, Friedrich Literary.

August 1, 2017
Race-baiting violence invades Sharon McCone's Yuletide celebrations.Christmas is a time when you want your family to gather around you, but not because they're offering support after your birth father, 82-year-old painter Elwood Farmer, has been viciously beaten by white supremacists, extending his visit from the Montana reservation he calls home and changing its venue to San Francisco General Hospital. As Elwood hovers between life and death, McCone, egged on by questions from coldhearted Sgt. Priscilla Anders that imply that the attack wasn't just random, racks her brains for anyone from her first 32 cases who might have it in for her personally. The list she comes up with, which includes the likes of her husband and partner Hy Ripinsky's vengeful ex-partner Gage Renshaw (Someone Always Knows, 2016), is a lot shorter than the list of friends and relations who've come together to offer comfort and help: her birth mother, Saskia Blackhawk, now convinced she's engaged to Elwood; McCone's symbolic cousin, Will Camphouse; McCone's nephew, Mick Savage, chief researcher at McCone & Ripinsky; and dozens of other M&R staffers. McCone's sleuthing, at once heartfelt and half-hearted, uncovers nothing but false leads until she stumbles on a section in her copy of Hints on Criminal Investigation admonishing her to be mindful of "MISDIRECTION" shortly before a malware attack and an extortion demand up the ante while clearing up a mystery that was never all that mysterious to begin with. More seasonal goodwill (think of a rainbow-cast remake of It's a Wonderful Life) than misdirection in a story that perfectly illustrates its heroine's bromide: "When you think about it, all crimes are stupid."

COPYRIGHT(2017) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

September 1, 2017
This is the thirty-third book in Muller's Sharon McCone series, and in the 40 years since that first outing (Edwin of the Iron Shoes, 1977), Sharon has been stabbed, shot, put in a coma, nearly drowned, and almost killed in a plane crash. We find out where her resilience comes from in this adventure when McCone's Native American father, who is visiting San Francisco for Christmas, becomes the victim of a vicious, racially motivated attack. While he lies in a coma, close to death, Sharon rounds up her posse to track down the thugs responsible for the crime. The bad guys retaliate with house vandalizing, car bombs, and further physical attacks, but justice is served after a high-stakes pursuit that proceeds at an astonishing pace. If you are ever in trouble, you want this woman to have your back. She may sigh and say, It's hard to be Old Reliable, but Sharon truly has a heart of platinum. Fans will enjoy cruising the city's streets with her once again, perhaps joining her for a serving of Chef D's fettuccini al Cubano.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)