Goodnight, Irene

Goodnight, Irene

Author: Jan Burke

Publisher: Simon & Schuster (1993)

ISBN: 0743444515

pages: 351

Genre: Mystery

Subgenre: amateur detective

3 (out of 5) STARS

Annotation: Reporter Irene Kelly uncovers more information about the identity of a dismembered woman found thirty-five years ago.

Summary: Irene Kelly’s best friend and father figure, O’Connor, is killed by a bomb which someone planted on his front porch. Because Kelly desires to solve the mystery of his death, she seeks to fill O’Connor’s now vacant job at the newspaper. At first, she believes the murder may be related to political matters, as O’Connor covers all the local politicians and elections. However, after more deaths, danger and clues, Kelly is lead to believe the current crimes have to do with the dismembered remains of a young woman that was found under the Las Piernas pier thirty five years ago.

Evaluation: The book Goodnight Irene has a great female protagonist. She is clever and witty and quite interesting. For example, “’Irene,’ he said, ‘do you know what the two saddest words in the English language are?’ ‘Boo and Hoo?’ I had guessed. ‘No, wise-ass. The two saddest words in the English language are ‘if only.’” (pg. 161). There are little bits of wisdom sprinkled throughout the book that Irene addresses with flair.

Another enjoyable aspect of this book is humorous dialogue. Irene and a police officer named Pete banter throughout the book. It is usually a good enough banter that it is difficult to tell if they are friends or if they actually hate each other. “’Hey, don’t dish it out if you can’t take it.’ ‘All right, all right, I get you. How ‘bout we make a pact-we’ll avoid the subject of – for want of a better term, I’ll say ‘romantic interests’?” (pg. 207).

The only aspect of the book that I did not like was how there were so much near death experiences. Irene Kelly was nearly killed about six times in one week. This seemed a bit far-fetched to me. However, this may just be part of the mystery genre and not unusual to this book.

Readalikes:

‘A’ is for Alibi by Sue Grafton
A Trouble of Fools by Linda Barnes
One for the Money by Janet Evonovich
Hardball by Barbara D’Amato
The Miracle Strip by Nancy Bartholomew