Sketch Me If You Can

First Line: It was over in less than three minutes.

After her favorite uncle's death, police sketch artist Rory McCain discovers that there was much more to the man than met the eye. Rory inherited his private detective business and decided to contact everyone on his client list to settle all the accounts.

However, when she moved into his beautiful old Victorian house, she discovered that Uncle Mac had a business partner-- a federal marshall named Ezekiel (Zeke) Drummond. Trouble is, Zeke was a marshall back in the Arizona Territory in the 1870s, and he had the misfortune to be murdered in Uncle Mac's... make that Rory's... house on Long Island. Zeke's not going anywhere until he finds his killer either.

Rory's still trying to decide if show more she's lost all her marbles when she's drawn into one of Uncle Mac's unsolved cases. As she's drawn in deeper, she realizes that she needs the help of an experienced investigator. Zeke applies for the position, but Rory's having none of that-- until a killer on the loose changes her mind.

Rory McCain is a very impulsive and very stubborn character. Zeke Drummond may be old-fashioned, cantankerous and sexist, but he also has a good sense of humor and has a steadying influence on her. Pape gives us just enough of Zeke's story to get us hooked and looking forward to more.

There's a heaping helping of humor in Sketch Me If You Can, and I found myself smiling and laughing out loud several times, as when Rory is confronted with her ghostly housemate and wonders why there aren't books like Living With a Ghost for Dummies or Chicken Soup for the Haunted House Owner. My favorite scene, however, was when Rory asked her parents and her aunt to help her investigate the scene of the crime. I hope she asks them for help again because they made quite the team!

Although it wasn't difficult to deduce the killer's identity, and I felt the cast of secondary characters outside of Rory's family needed a bit of fleshing out, I found Sketch Me If You Can to be very entertaining, and I'm looking forward to the next book in the series. show less

Rory McCain, a police sketch artist, has inherited her uncle's PI agency and his renovated home. When she moves in, she is also presented with the resident ghost, Zeke Drummond who insists that he help her when she decides to work on one of the cases that was left open by her uncle's sudden death.

This was a great start for a new cozy mystery series - the two major characters are well-written and the story had the clues interwoven quite cleverly. Definitely looking forward to the next in the series.

For what it was I enjoyed this book, I have sort of a love hate relationship with cozy mysteries, I enjoy them but they drive me nuts with the usually stupid ways they get their fledgling investigators involved in solving the crime and the stupid decisions everyone has to make to make this premise work.

This one had a very good way to get the main character involved in the crime and unusually the crime solving itself was the main focus of the book, but the author still had her doing cringe inducing things (such as not calling the cops when a detective of all people would know better) to keep the plot going but I'm hoping future books can avoid, or at least they wont feel as annoying since it would make more sense with the direction the show more book went.

I did really enjoy the characters of Rory McCain and Marshal Ezekiel Drummond and I found their approach to his status as a ghost believable within the framework of the story and I feel I will enjoy reading more about them and watching their partnership grow.

Overall it was a decent mystery, the characters were well rounded and I cared about them and I am looking forward to reading more. show less

Series: 1st in Portrait of Crime Mysteries

Main Character: Rory McCain - a police sketch artist

Setting: Modern day, Suffolk County New York

Obtained Through: Publisher for an honest review

Rory's beloved uncle Mac dies of a massive coronary one night and she has to accept that she inherited everything of his - no matter how painful. She starts to clear out his PI files of active cases and notify the clients to hire somebody else while refunding their money. But one client begs and pleads for her to finish his case because nobody else will. Jeremy had hired Mac to investigate his sister, Gail's death. It had been ruled an accident but Jeremy insists she was murdered. Gail was an in-demand high-end interior designer who had made plenty of show more enemies. Rory decides to refund his money and just look into it since she can't moonlight according to police department policy.

Rory had put it off but finally takes the plunge and moves into Mac's Victorian house only to find that a 1987 Federal Marshal's ghost occupies the place. Ezekiel Drummond, aka Zeke, is stuck in the house where he was killed. Apparently uncle Mac had partnered with the old-fashioned lawman to solve his cases. Rory finds his outmoded ideas about women infuriating, but she can't deny that he knows criminal investigation well. But when Zeke shares that he knows Mac was murdered rather than a natural heart attack kill him, and he thinks Gail's case got him killed they meld together as a dysfunctional team to get justice for Mac.

Rory (short for Aurora which she hates) is a lively character. It seems overused to say "independent and smart" since more and more female characters are classified that way, but she really is. Her character faces grieving her uncle's death as well as dissatisfaction with her job. I found her logical yet hot tempered, especially with the outmoded mores of Zeke about women. I look forward to getting to know this character better.

The character of Zeke is fascinating with a temper of his own. A few chapters are dedicated to his last case where he was hunting down a serial killer. That story is not finished and I found I just had to read what happened to get him from Arizona to NY and killed in that house. So I will be reading the next book shortly to find out more on that. The flashback technique worked seamlessly and added to the page-turning quality of the story. Yes he is old fashioned, but that is the world he came from but he tries to adjust to Rory and her demands. The friction between these two is funny and lively. The way this character is portrayed it isn't so much a paranormal story but a great twist to the standard mystery, really.

The plot is solid and the reader only knows what Rory and Zeke know. I had a good idea of who the killer was but not a clue as to the motive for killing Gail and then Mac. Even with my suspicion of whodunit I found that made the story more interesting as I followed Rory gaining more pieces to the puzzle.

The confrontation with the killer was tense and exciting without being improbable. I liked the wrap-up to the story which sets Rory up for future mysteries. It made me hungry for the next book which I will be reviewing in just a few weeks. This book is a great debut book with a solid premise. The author set up the mystery and investigation like a practiced pro avoiding common pitfalls. I will be following this series closely.

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Rory McCain is a police sketch artist. Her beloved Uncle Mac, a private investigator, recently died and left her the bulk of his estate, including his Victorian house in Huntington, MA and his business. He also leaves her a letter to be opened in the event of his death.

Rory goes to the house, but just can't bring herself to start going through his things, so she decides to start with his office. While contacting clients about his death, she comes across one who asks her if she would continue working on his case. When she explains that her employer does not permit her to moonlight, he persists, explaining that he just can't believe that his sister's death was an accident. She finally agrees to investigate as "a favor for a friend" at no show more charge.

With her mother's help, she starts clearing Mac's things out of the house, and decides to try spending the night on the couch, but wakes up in the middle of the night. Thinking there is someone in the chair across from her she turns on the light and sees a tall man dressed like an Old West sheriff. He tells her that his name is Ezekiel Drummond, and that her uncle was supposed to have told her about him. She remembers the letter, which she hasn't yet read, and discovers that Ezekiel Drummond died in 1878, and lived in the house since before Mac bought it. Apparently Mac's investigative business had developed greatly once Drummond began to assist him.

Taken aback by this news, but certain that her uncle wasn't delusional, Rory decides to continue the arrangement, though not formally continuing the business.

I read this engrossing book in an afternoon, and look forward to more in the Portrait of Crime series. show less

Good beginning for a series. Unusual premise.

Only got through about half of this book and giving up. I couldn't get into it, didn't relate to or particularly like the characters and I could care less whodunit.