Crime School

NYPD's most beautiful and ruthless detective investigates a series of hanging attacks on women that a duplicate a twenty-year-old murder. Both Mallory and her partner Riker have a personal interest, for one of the victims is a former junkie-prostitute that mothered Mallory when she was a street urchin. Her friend Charles Butler wants to know why Riker removed a pulp western paperback novel from the woman's crime scene, only to discover that the young Mallory had a reading club among working girls. A rookie being tutored by Mallory and Riker apparently is the basis for the title. Or perhaps it refers to young Mallory's own brutal tutelage on the streets.

A good, solid read.

I have an issue with some of the Mallory novels - Shell Game, show more Crime School, Winter House. O'Connell always provides two endings to her stories, one to the mystery, the other to the emotional conflicts among her regulars. I have noticed that the latter tends to be more satisfying and resonant than the former. In these stories, especially, she provides a plausible culprit but then has said culprit being bluffed into signing confessions that send him or her to jail for good. I didn't believe this the first time O'Connell used it, in Shell Game. I really don't believe it in this case. On the other hand, I nearly teared up at the last scene, when Mallory came to terms with another part of her past. show less

Great to reacquaint myself with the amazing Kathy Mallory. This is a unique series. While the characters definitely require willful suspension of disbelief, the writing is challenging and the rewards are real.

This book is one of a series of books by Carol O'Connell about a beautiful, damaged, maverick, and almost sociopathic detective named Kathleen Mallory (who insists on being called simply "Mallory"), and the people that love her despite her flaws: Charles, an intelligent, rich, but ugly family friend; Lou, the cop that takes her in; and Riker, her adopted father's partner. The relationships that develop between these characters as they solve crimes together are the focus of the series.

This story (the sixth in the series), has Mallory investigating the murder of a prostitute who Mallory knew as a street urchin. It fills in background on Mallory, and explains a bit about why she turned out as she did.

One of my favorite series. This is where O'Connell really shone, with a protagonist and characters who were both sympathetic and adversarial. I'm looking forward to going back and re-reading all of her Kathleen Mallory stories. They are exceptional.

I found this one difficult to get into; probably the way I read it. To much back story, but the motive of giving Mallory some heart was good. I really enjoyed the new police trainee, Duck Boy.

5th in the Mallory series.

This will be the last book with Mallory as a protagonist that I will read. I simply can not take more O’Connell’s inability to realize her protagonists as real characters and her seeming inability to demonstrate what she says about her characters rather than constantly telling us what we should believe.

Which is too bad, because O’Connell can plot and her other characters—other than Mallory, Charles and Riker—are fascinating. Her writing is mostly good but again, she seems unable to tie up a plot smoothly.

I was almost unable to finish this book, which is saying a good deal because I’m someone who grimly hangs in to the end of all but the worst books. Crime School came within a hair’s breadth of show more making it to that category. show less

Crime School is, like Find Me and Dead Famous, a slow starter, but stick with it for a great finish.