Every Thing You Want Me to Be
Mindy Mejia's new mystery deals with some contemporary problems.
It all starts with the murder of Hattie Hoffman, a budding young senior in high school with all the talent in the word as an actresss. He wants to skip college and move to New York. She's currently portraying Lady MacBeth. Symbolically the part comes with a curse, according to her friend, Portia.
The book flashes back to Hattie's viewpoint, and she explains how she came to meet Peter Lund, her high school English teacher. After her death, the cops find chat line correspondence between Holly G. and LG (Literary Geek) on her computer. Eventually both Peter and Hattie realize who their correspondents really are.
Hattie is an actress in more ways than one. She plays different parts in real life, depending upon whom she's with. Peter will have nothing to do with her, once he realizes she's his student, but she develops a relationship with Tommy Kinakis, a football player, trying to make Peter jealous.
Another first person character is Del, the sheriff, whose best friend is Hattie's father. Tommy is a suspect, as is Peter Lund; then there's Peter's wife, Mary, who's obsessed with her mother who's dying, pretty much cutting Peter off, making him more susceptible to Hattie's charms. Elsa, the mother, doesn't like Peter. He's a vegetarian for one thing, and he's repulsed by Mary's facility with a knife when she dispatches chickens. He's a city kid and would much rather be living in the Twin Cities where his friends are. The only reason he takes a job in Pine City is because of Mary.
I read a lot of mysteries, write some, too, but I must confess Mindy Mejia faked me out of my jock. A mystery writer usually shows the murderer early in the novel, then tries to hide him or her, using the red herring trick. So then most prolific mystery readers automatically start looking for hints as to who the real murderer is. I thought I had him or her pegged. Boy was I wrong.
It all starts with the murder of Hattie Hoffman, a budding young senior in high school with all the talent in the word as an actresss. He wants to skip college and move to New York. She's currently portraying Lady MacBeth. Symbolically the part comes with a curse, according to her friend, Portia.
The book flashes back to Hattie's viewpoint, and she explains how she came to meet Peter Lund, her high school English teacher. After her death, the cops find chat line correspondence between Holly G. and LG (Literary Geek) on her computer. Eventually both Peter and Hattie realize who their correspondents really are.
Hattie is an actress in more ways than one. She plays different parts in real life, depending upon whom she's with. Peter will have nothing to do with her, once he realizes she's his student, but she develops a relationship with Tommy Kinakis, a football player, trying to make Peter jealous.
Another first person character is Del, the sheriff, whose best friend is Hattie's father. Tommy is a suspect, as is Peter Lund; then there's Peter's wife, Mary, who's obsessed with her mother who's dying, pretty much cutting Peter off, making him more susceptible to Hattie's charms. Elsa, the mother, doesn't like Peter. He's a vegetarian for one thing, and he's repulsed by Mary's facility with a knife when she dispatches chickens. He's a city kid and would much rather be living in the Twin Cities where his friends are. The only reason he takes a job in Pine City is because of Mary.
I read a lot of mysteries, write some, too, but I must confess Mindy Mejia faked me out of my jock. A mystery writer usually shows the murderer early in the novel, then tries to hide him or her, using the red herring trick. So then most prolific mystery readers automatically start looking for hints as to who the real murderer is. I thought I had him or her pegged. Boy was I wrong.
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