Book Review: Beyond a Doubt by Nancy Cole Silverman (Carol Childs #2)

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Strong mystery, Carol

Cons: Nothing worth dwelling on

The Bottom Line:

Missing young women

Make for compelling myst’ry

Pick this up today

Will You Enjoy this Book?  Beyond a Doubt

In this day of internet news and digital music, I don’t think much about radio any more.  Heck, I have yet to set any radio stations in my new car.  And yet Nancy Cole Silverman set her mystery series in a news and talk radio station.  That was a wise choice as you can tell by reading Beyond a Doubt.

Working news has definite downsides, like a 5 AM wakeup call to go to the site of a body dump.  That’s how Carol Childs has started this particular morning, and she is soon reporting on the scene as the police work to retrieve the body from a canyon on Mulholland Drive.  The police confirm that the body is that of Monica Channing, the daughter of a prominent judge.  Monica had been missing for two weeks, and the search had been big news all over the Los Angeles area.

That same day comes the news that Gabi Garrison has been reported missing.  Gabi worked as a reporter for a local TV station before going into sales, which is how Gabi and Carol’s paths had crossed.  Carol begins to wonder if there is a connection in the timing between Gabi’s disappearance and the discovery of Monica’s body, especially since the two women look so much alike.  As she begins to dig, she finds other, similar disappearances.  What has she stumbled upon?

Quite obviously, this book isn’t a light, fun cozy mystery as it delved into some pretty serious topics.  However, this book firmly fits into the traditional sphere since it never gets graphic.  We know what is happening without being given any of the details.  Honestly, we don’t need them.  What we get here is sobering.

Nancy Cole Silverman also uses the book to make a great point about the missing people the news media focuses on – young attractive white women – to the exclusion of other people who disappear.

And yet neither of these things get in the way of a great mystery.  The suspense builds right through the climax as we watch Carol work hard to prove what she suspects.  She did act stupidly at one point in her pursuit of the truth, but it made a wonderful plot complication.  I was so wrapped up in the climax I didn’t wind up taking my almost daily lunch time snooze in order to find out how things would turn out, and I just loved the climax.

Carol is a strong main character, even with her lapse of judgment.  Her determination is wonderful.  I like the supporting cast as well, although the focus really is on Carol and the story.  The characters introduced for this book are very strong, which helps keep us engaged.

I can’t recommend Beyond a Doubt highly enough.  This is a completely engrossing and satisfying mystery.  I can hardly wait to pick up Carol’s next adventure.

Check out the rest of the Carol Childs Mysteries.