The Cable Car Murder

Maggie Elliott Mystery #1

by Elizabeth Atwood Taylor

Maggie Elliott isn't particularly close to her half sister -- Celia Sloan's wealthy life isn't quite Maggie's style. But when Celia dies as a result of a bizarre incident revolving a steep hill and a cable car. Maggie is drawn into the Sloan mansion -- and into the Sloans' troubles. The whole family -- Celia's daughter Lindy, her hard-drinking son Mark, and her psychiatrist husband Henry -- is distraught over the accident. And the fact that the police are calling it murder and questioning them about motives and alibis isn't helping any.

Maggie's going to need all the help she can get to figure out what's really going on. Help in the form of former cop Richard Patrick O'Reagan -- who just happened to witness Celia's death by cable car....

Genres: Mystery

240 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 1, 1981

Reviews

[Lisa Kucharski · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story takes place just before Christmas with all its traditional patterns; which is interrupted by a gruesome death. The telling is through Maggie who is someone who seems to be wandering about in life, struggling with alcohol and smoking and just feeling sorry about loss - while the story contains a lot of this element, it does move onward. In essence as Maggie finds her way back to living it opens up her mind to considering the death of her half sister and others to have some odd elements. When this happens the story really opens up. And all the elements of her turning detective; along with, an ex-policeman- really makes for interesting reading both of a mystery- but also observing human behaviors.

First time reading this author, enjoyed it.

[Teresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are two sections to this book. The first establishes the characters and not really the mystery, just a tragedy. The second part is where you find the mystery. The second half of the book flows well and makes the book worth reading.

[Susan Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed all the local color, especially the scene with the small town librarian.

Some of the more interesting minor characters could have been developed more. Plot a bit thin.

The author has lived a lot of places I've lived!

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

This could have been a short story. I can't think of the last time I read a book under 300 pages and had the thought this should have been shorter.

[Kathy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Cleaning off my overloaded mystery shelf, I decided to have a go at reading the ones I might add to my husband's pile of thrillers that he trades around with friends. This one was a yawn, despite being set in my favorite city, San Francisco. (Favorite, that is, after St. Louis, the place I live in and love.) Maggie's sister is killed by a cable car, and the murder sends Maggie on a convoluted journey to unravel a mystery that really wasn't worth my time, or hers. Somebody might feel kinder toward it, so it goes on Ted's pile.

[Kimberlyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maggie tries to solve the mysterious death of her sister who is sliced in half by a cable car. Her heiress daughter is then killed in a plane crash. with the help of a former police officer, she solves the case. Fairly predictable story, easy reading. Set in San Francisco, Monterey, and Pasa Robles areas

[Harry · Rating 2 out of 5]

The copy I had needed some serious editing. Lots of wrong words. The writing also had issues with dangling modifiers which are annoying enough to take the reader out of the story. I felt the ending was to contrived and out of character with the rest of the book. Not the best mystery.

[Marty · Rating 2 out of 5]

A rich woman falls or is pushed in front of a Cable Car and is killed. … Which is it, murder or accident? She had recently changed her will and was planning on divorcing her husband… Is that a good reason for murder? The victim’s half-sister, Maggie inherits a nice sum, but that puts her on the list of police suspects. It just so happens that a retired cop had witnessed the cable car scene. Can he and Maggie figure out what really happened?
….. As mysteries go, I’d put this one in the lower middle. – Interesting, but I really didn’t care about any of the characters. They might have really been interesting, but something was missing.