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Type of bind: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN num: 9780446615877
ISBN number: 0446615870
Label: Grand Central Publishing
Manufacturer: Grand Central Publishing
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 336
Printing Date: June 01, 2005
Publishing house: Grand Central Publishing
Sale Popularity Level: 85915
Studio: Grand Central Publishing
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
- Mutter's previous novel, 'Cyanide Wells, was published in Mysterious Press hardcover in 7/03, and will be released in mass market simultaneous with THE DANGEROUS HOUR.- 'Dead Midnight (Mysterious Press, 6/02) hit the 'Los Angeles Times bestseller list, winning rave reviews from the 'New York Times Book Review, San Francisco Chronicle, Library Journal, Publishing houses Weekly (starred review), and 'Booklist. The mass market edition was published in 7/03.- Muller's McCone series has consistently received strong reviews from national publications, including the 'New York Times Book Review, USA TODAY, and the 'Los Angeles Times, among others.- The McCone mysteries are being developed by Spring Creek Productions and CBS-TV into a pilot for a new television series.
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers -
I have to preface this review by stating that this is the very first Sharon McCone mystery I've read (but will certainly be reading more). Heroine Sharon is undoubtedly a personable sort of lady, and even as a first-time reader, I felt that I'd got to know here pretty well by the end of this tale. Feisty, independent, strong-willed, but nonetheless with a beguiling sense of fragility in the face of danger.
The inclusion of her pet cats Alice and Ralph is a clever way to personalise Sharon's away-from-work persona. Being a cat owner myself, I had to laugh at Ralph's experience - having to be injected with insulin by the fumbling Sharon, who ends up paying her young neighbour $20 a month to do the job!
The plot is easily and well constructed - not overly complicated - but with enough twists and turns to keep the reader on their toes. The dialogue and idiom feel spontaneous, and appropriate to the times and natural to the people speaking.
One insurmountable problem for me (as a first-time reader, remember) was the character of Hy Ripinski, Sharon's on-again, off-again, maybe husband-to-be. Obviously, Hy's character has already been more than well-developed in Muller's previous McCone stories, but to this new reader he made no sense - either as a foil to this story, or as Sharon's life-partner. While she's being stalked and attacked and otherwise terrorised, Hy's up at his farm chilling out! What the...? And what's with his disconcerting use of Sharon's surname as a term of "endearment"? How many guys, in reality, would ever get away with that? All a little too unbelievably idiosyncratic maybe.
Ultimately, I had no idea what Ripinski was like as a man, either from a purely physical viewpoint, or as to what his philosophies on life were... or even what his relationship with Sharon is all about (from his standpoint). Is he a user, or worse a guy who lacks commitment? Is Sharon aware of his intentions, or is she as much in the dark as this reader was?
Incidentally, the "strangers" in my review title refers mainly to a few characters who Sharon mentioned in passing, or socialised with whom I'd never heard of, and who didn't seem to have any bearing on the story one way or the other. Hank Zahn; Habiba Hamid; Molly, Lisa and Jamie; Bette Silver; the Halls; to name a few.
Apart from those few hiccups as a new reader, I'm definitely going to be reading quite a few of Muller's McCone stories; she's whet my appetite to the extent that I feel I need to get to know Sharon and her "gang" a lot more.
Almost a 5 out of 5.
Rated by buyers -
Every time I buy a novel by a well-known author I haven't read before, I soon realize that the book is already well into a series. Guess I'm a sucker for a great cover and tantalizing blurbs and, so far, I haven't been disappointed. This is especially true for my very first (and I'm a little embarrassed to admit this) Sharon McCone novel.
The adventure opens with Sharon feeling pretty good about her expanding PI practice. So good that she's about to celebrate with her staff when the police show up and arrest her newest operative, Julia Rafael. Julia's allegedly stolen a credit card from former client, Alex Aguilar. The situation worsens when a complaint's filed against Sharon, prompting a rep from the Investigations Bureau of the Dept. of Consumer Affairs to want to scrutinize her files.
Neither Sharon or Julia's lawyer believe Julia stole the card, so it's a matter of finding who set her up, and why? The more Sharon digs, the more dangerous things become for her and her staff.
THE DANGEROUS HOUR is an entertaining, suspenseful read filled with twists and turns, plus an interesting subplot about her strained relationship with her lover, Hy. Although Hy doesn't appear until midway through the book, he's an interesting guy, and I'm looking forward to going back and starting this series from the beginning. It should be quite a ride.
Rated by buyers -
When you pick up a Sharon McCone book by Marcia Muller, yuo pretty much know what you are going to get-- a solid detective novel that integrates nicely with Sharon McCone's personal life--and that's okay. In The Dangerous Hour, one of McCone's employees is arrested for credit card fraud and the McCone Detective Agency is the subject of a BBB complaint. Not only that, but they are fighting against allegations leveled against the agency by an Hispanic San Francisco mayoral candidate.
While dealing with all of this, in addition to covering her cases, McCone is also working through the twist that her romance with security operative Hy Ripinski has taken.
One of the things I like about this series is that the McCone character is allowed to grow and become professionally successful. She follows an actual life pathway, as opposed to characters in other series who seem to be frozen in time.
The Dangerous Hour is another solid book in a solid series, with strong, likable characters and believable villains. It's nice to see a mystery author who is able to keep up the quality of her books with the release of the 23rd book in the series.
Rated by buyers -
This is the kind of mystery that you look forward to getting back to and that will get read quickly but will not keep you up until 3 in the morning because you can't bear to put it down. That's not such a bad thing -- sometimes those keep-you-up-all-night books aren't such a good idea. I've read quite a few in this mystery series and character Sharon McCone feels like an old friend. In this book, there are a number of references to events and people in previous books that might make parts of this book less accessible to new readers, although they really don't have much to do with the plot.
The plot involves the arrest of Jules, one of Sharon's employees (Sharon runs a very successful detective agency in San Francisco). Jules is accused of stealing and using a credit card from the client in a case she was assigned to, and for reasons that aren't very convincing, even before Jules is even arraigned, Sharon's agency is being threatened with losing its license to operate because she is responsible for her employees' actions on the job. Sharon has to prove that Jules didn't do it in order to save the agency. Although Jules has a colorful background, Sharon believes in her innocence, and it quickly becomes apparent that this is a frame with Sharon's agency as the real target. The plot then becomes Sharon trying to find out who is framing Jules, which involves finding out who has a grudge against her that is motivating this frame.
I wouldn't describe this as one of those mysteries that you ought to be able to solve if you read the clues correctly -- it's more of a procedural, where you follow along with Sharon as she tries to solve the case. The real strength of the book is Sharon's likeability -- she's someone you enjoy spending time with in a book -- and Muller's writing skills, which create a whole exciting San Francisco world.
Rated by buyers 
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I have been reading these mysteries from the very very first book, it was a nice change to have the book read to me. The book was well read except for some for the pronunciations of some of the famous and infamous locales. I admit I cringed every time I heard Susan Ericksen say Ghirardelli Square.
The characters have evolved nicely over the years and I highly recommend this book, personally I love the audio cd's during my commute to and from work.
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