The Last Blue Plate Special

Blue #2

by Abigail Padgett

It seems impossible that two healthy female politicians could have both died from a cerebral hemorrhage within days of each other. The police hire Blue McCarron and Roxie Bouchie as consultants. The two women, who are involved professionally and personally, work with evangelical preachers, former convicts, and paintball playing plastic surgeons in order to find this unorthodox killer.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, LGBT, Crime, Lesbian

Kindle Edition

First published March 1, 2001

Reviews

[Betty · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Last Blue Plate Special by Abigail Padgett is the second book in the “Blue McCarron Mysteries” series. Like her first book, Blue, the author takes the reader on an unorthodox journey to find a killer preying on local politicians and other important women in the area. For this job, Blue will need all the help she can get from her girlfriend Dr. Roxanne (Roxie) Bouchie, a forensic psychologist, her ex con friend BB, and a unique assortment of individuals including her dog Bronte.

I love the way this author writes. She knows how to hook you on the first page, and never let go until the very end. She creates unique and unforgettable characters such as our heroes Blue, Roxie, BB, and Bronte. Then we get the suspects like the paintball shooting plastic surgeon and the bodybuilding nurse. The best part is how the story is woven together. The murder mystery in this tale is exceptional. The “who-done-it” part of the book will have you guessing right until Blue figures it out near the end. The continuing romance between Blue and Roxie has a lot of ups and downs in this novel. This tale will have you laughing one chapter and reaching for tissues the next…and it all works together perfectly. Really, the entire novel is just wonderful.
You could probably read this book as a standalone, but I think you would be missing out if you do. I highly recommend you read both novels in order. Then you can wait impatiently with me for the author’s next book.

I received an ARC from Bywater Books for an honest review.

Rainbow Reflections: https://rainbowreflections.home.blog/

[Della B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dr. Blue McCarron returns in the second book in this series. Both can be read as stand alone novels however for better continuity I would suggest reding the series in order. Blue is living contently in her incomplete motel in the desert with her dog Bronte. Blue’s life has grown for the better as she now has a girlfriend, a business partner and a job.
Dr. Roxanne Bouchie is a forensic psychiatrist and a line dancer extraordinaire. They are combining Roxie’s expertise with Blue’s social psychology to become consultants. Roxie is also the love of Blue’s life.

In the Last Blue Plate Special two well known female politicians die of natural causes within two weeks of each other. Blue knows this is statistically impossible for her corner of the world. She convinces the police of this fact and she and Roxie are hired on as police consultants.

Padgett’s writing reflects the joy which has entered Blue’s life. It has a very evident lightness to it. There are fewer wandering digressions included this time. The sentence structure is not as word heavy yet still retains the beautifully descriptive quality of the first book. The desert as the setting is so vividly described that you can feel the dry winds blowing as you continue to reach for a glass of water to wet your parched lips.

The mystery is like none I have read before. It pulls together the disconnected pieces of the puzzle in a manner which stays true to how Blue’s brain processes facts. To the reader it is like being placed inside a snow globe after it has been shaken. All we see is the snow swirling but Blue sees the patterns the snow makes and can tell you what the scene is in the globe before it settles. It is a truly ingenious mystery that as a reader I had to wait for Blue to explain it all to me.
Any mystery reader not acquainted with the Dr.Blue McCarron series really should introduce themselves.

I received a free ARC from Bywater Books for my honest review.

[Agirlcandream · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I could give this 6 stars I would. Blue McCarron mysteries are something to savour. Quirky and unique and often profound insight into the human condition. Loved this and wish Padgett would give us more of Blue and Roxie.

[Women Using Words · Rating 5 out of 5]

My thoughts…

The Last Blue Plate Special by Abigail Padgett is an absolutely fantastic read. Readers will be totally engrossed and entertained as they fly through this splendidly constructed mystery. The writing is sharp and the characters are marvelously developed. This book will no doubt delight and enthrall any mystery enthusiast.

The story is told in first person from Blue McCarron’s perspective, and she provides the most unique lens for this solidly told tale. Her quirky personality pushes the storytelling in compelling and dramatic ways. One can not help but love her. She is a thinker who doesn’t believe in coincidences, just patterns that can be predicted. She believes in numbers because they are reliable, but knows there are times she should just trust her heart. Her dry humor and keen intelligence makes her a fascinating character, one readers will soon not forget.

Padgett is an impressive writer and her talent is on full display in The Last Blue Plate Special. This book is superbly written and far from predictable. With a story arc so well-played and plotted, readers are never quite sure what they’ll find next, but that’s what makes this read so enjoyable. The end is a bit of a surprise, and it definitely leaves readers wanting more. Fortunately, they will get it; book three is due out August of next year.

Final thoughts…

Overall, book two of the Blue McCarran Mystery series is a satisfyingly well-crafted mystery. Padgett deftly entertains her readers with this artfully scripted tale. It’s clever and original with just enough romance to peak one’s interest. I highly recommend The Last Blue Plate Special. It’s good, old-fashioned, mystery reading fun.

Strengths…

Well-written
Well-plotted
Suspenseful
Captivating
Great characters

[Genine Franklin-Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm glad I gave this second novel about Blue a chance. I liked the character in Blue, but was not happy with the overwhelming antipathy toward men. This second book has almost none of that, and developed the characters nicely. I like the author's writing, the dog, of course, and the unusual setting. Good read.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Someone does not like women politicians and is knocking them off.
Set in San Diego, Roxanne, a forensic psychologist and Blu, a social psychologisy are hired to consult on the cases.

[Cecile · Rating 5 out of 5]

She is a fantastic author!

[Khanson919 · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had a very unique mystery and I want to give it more stars, but I can't because the characters were either annoying or unlikable. The serial killer in this book committed the murders in a way I have never heard of before, and I have read many, many mysteries. If only the characters weren't so annoying. The main character Blue McCarron's obsession with the beads her girlfriend wears in her hair made no sense to me. Also, Blue often talked about the deep spiritual connection that they had, but they never seemed like a couple. Their interactions did not make me believe they were in love, so Blue waxing poetically on their connection was completely out of left field. This book gave you no person to root for. All I really wanted was to know who the killer was and be done with the book. This is the last in the series, but I would not have read a next one if there was one.

[Sidna · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a DNF for me. The writing is stilted, and it felt like the author was trying to find big words to use or trying to sound intelligent. She didn't succeed. I read five or six chapters and decided that there are too many other books I want to read to waste any more time on this one. I read the ending and I was finished.

[Marylynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I accidentally read this one first, but it was still a good book. Will definitely read the first one next.

[Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Layered story with a intricate mystery that unfolds at the right pace.

This time, Blue and Roxie combine their expertise to solve the crime. Two independent, brilliant women working together professionally whilst trying to side-step premature 'terminal enmashment' of their interracial relationship has both its funny and sobering moments. You'll love Blue's voice and like me, eagerly look forward to more.

[Megan]

Social Psychologist Dr. Blue McCarron is back in the second installment of the series that bears her name. It is as good as the first—and with a far better ending. Those of you who have read my other reviews know that I am a sucker for a well-edited book, but you also know that when an author has a major publisher—like Mysterious Press, a division of Time Warner—I expect the editing to be good. But no editing staff can alter an author’s voice or her knowledge or her vocabulary or the inner poetry of her words.

One of the things that makes Padgett’s books stand out is her thorough knowledge of the subjects she writes about: the California desert, for instance, and social anthropology, which are featured in both this book and the first one, Blue. But if Blue was largely successful because of the protagonist’s interest in human behavior versus ape behavior, this one succeeds because of her interest in statistics. She says that “real people have never made much sense to me, only numbers. Charts and graphs and statistical estimations make sense.”

In fact, the story begins when Blue discovers that two highly successful political women have died only weeks apart in the same town and from the same cause—a cerebral aneurism. When she runs the numbers—something she relishes like I might relish a Dove Bar—she finds that the coincidence is statistically impossible. Thus, a murder investigation is born. With her girlfriend Rox Bouchie—a clinical psychologist—Blue sets out to find the murderer and stop him or her from killing again.

In the course of her investigation, Blue learns a lot about cosmetic surgery, and of all things, Willow Pattern dishes—both of which are not only interesting, but integral to the plot. But it is Blue’s odd philosophy that makes her a character wroth remembering. “The Grid,” for instance is back. “Fate, God, fortune, disaster—to me these are just flashes from some huge grid on which everything moves at lightning speeds.” When Blue feels the crackle of the grid, she knows she is very close to realizing something important.

Blue’s relationship with Rox is not completely convincing, but it is both heartfelt and odd. I’ve said it before: people get into strange relationships and somehow manage to make them work. The solution of the mystery is not terribly convincing either, but it is better than most and way better than in the previous book. And of course there is the old serial killer/religious fanatic angle that I wish would just go away. I’m not saying that either of Padgett’s novels should be in anyone’s Top 20; but maybe least one of them should be in someone’s Top 50. Your choice.

Note: I read the first hardback printing of this novel.

Another Note: This review is included in my book The Art of the Lesbian Mystery Novel, along with information on over 930 other lesbian mysteries by over 310 authors.

[Kirsty Darbyshire]

I didn't expect to like this book better than the first one, Blue, but I think I did like it better overall. My comments about Blue read like I didn't like it that much, that's mostly because I was discussing it with a group of other people and sometimes it seems as if we tend to pull out the inadequacies of a book rather than praise the things we enjoyed. At least that's what I seem to end up with at the end. Not being bound by a discussion when I was reading this book meant I was free to enjoy it without trying to think about the whys or what other people might not like in the book.

Outside of the pros and cons of book discussions I think this is a better book anyway. I think Blue McCarron is more level headed in this book, she's less screwed up by lovers, she's less of a bore about her social psychology (even though I did think her explanations of statistics were on very dodgy ground at some points - a thousand to one chance of something happening is not by any means "so unlikely that it just really could not happen") and she did a lot better at not walking herself into dodgy situations (she does walk into them of course, but there's rationale behind the walking, not just cliched 'lone woman decides to check out noises in cellar' type of rationale)

I don't know if Padgett has any plans to write any more books about Blue, or even, given the way this book concludes, if I really want to know what happens to Blue next, but if there is another then I'll be reading it because I like the character, I like the writing and the plot isn't half bad either. These are a couple of books that I would hesitate to recommend to others because I know the reason I enjoyed them is mostly down to finding Blue a highly appealing character where I know others have found her downright annoying. I'm going to check out Padgett's other series that seems to have more widespread appeal and see what I make of that.

[Drianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

he sequel to the amazing Blue, this novel again features kooky social psychologist Blue McCarron and her lack of crime solving skills. It pits her against a creepy Christian fundamentalist killer who's killing powerful women. But only powerful women who get plastic surgery. Um, sure. It was a fairly weak book, I'm afraid, and didn't at all live up to the thrill of the first. The mystery was too transparent, and the 'how', well, far-fetched, at best. I'll wait for the next one, but not with as much anticipation.

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read several of Padgett's books. Her earlier books are quite different than these last two, "Blue," and this one. The protagonist is the same and Blue is a very unusual person who is a social psychologist and becomes involved in solving a mystery. She is a lesbian and lives in the desert east of the San Diego area. The desert plays a big role in the story. I think most all the characters are rather quirky. But I enjoyed the story and the plot kept me guessing throughout.

[Jest · Rating 2 out of 5]

The characters are likeable but the plot is incredibly weak.

[Susan Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the story, but there was a lot of social psychology "stuff" there got in the way.

I always felt it pushed the lesbian relationship of Blue & Roxie too much.

[Becko · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slow start - this was the third time I tried to read this book. Once I got into it I really enjoyed it.

[Maureen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gotta read all the books! Don't think I've read any others...