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Letter Perfect
By all accounts, Charles Taylor was scum. A womanizing moneyman with a penchant for homemade porn, his death comes as little surprise to the New York financial world. For Detective Amanda Ross, Charles Taylor should be just another name on a case file. But recent events have left Amanda doubting her fitness as a cop, and finding out who killed Charles Taylor is the one way she believes she can regain her footing. It couldn't hurt her chances with Taylor's beautiful sister Pamela, either.
272 pages, Paperback
First published February 19, 2001
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April 28, 2026One of the problems that I had with this book is that I was reading Diane Davidson’s first Toni Underwood novel at the same time—one during the day land one at night as is my current habit. The characters are so similar that they could easily be switched. Both Amanda Ross and Toni are tough police inspectors, they have virtually the same appearance, and their precinct offices are nearly identical. So what’s the problem, Megan? The problem is that one is written better than the other. When I would be reading the Davidson book at night I would get confused, thinking at times, “Ouch, this book is getting terrible,” forgetting that I had switched from Avenue to Davidson. To clarify, Avenue is much better than Davidson. Don’t read the two books together.
Having said all that, though, there is not much left to say. Letter Perfect is a title whose relevance to the story escapes me, but then, a lot of the book is that way. It’s a book that you have to read with care or the characters will fade out of your memory. If one of these forgotten names happens to be the culprit, then you are SOL. There are actually a number of criminals, but all were introduced before the dénouements so the fact that two of them seemed to be strangers was my fault.
I will insist, however, that the motive for at least some of the crimes was spurious. In a nutshell, a powerhouse investment counselor contrives a scheme to defraud his customers, thus becoming a target for revenge from those who are defrauded. But the man was a legend in his own office as someone who was among the most expert—and successful—brokers in the business. Why would he concoct a scheme that would harm his reputation? It wasn't as if he needed extra money.
The prose itself is not bad. Sometimes the author’s decision to use italicized words as inner dialogue is a mistake, but not as much of a mistake as many I've seen. When Amanda sees a “catty” receptionist filing her nails, she thinks, “Here kitty, have a ball of yarn and go away.” Things like that. Told in the first person, Avenue’s writing often involves way too much minute description, such as exactly what streets she has to go down to get to her destinations, or the salt-and-pepper descriptions of virtually every character. Several pages could have been deleted this way.
The plot turns in a pleasing way for mystery readers with a lot of twists and turns and red herrings. But the actual solving of the crimes is not as pleasing. One of Amanda’s clues comes from a debunked preacher spouting the gospel on her doorstep. Other plot twists are not quite brought to fruition. It may be a case of “I've spent this much money already on my book (he uses one of those "publishers" that gouge writers), I can’t afford to spend any more to make it right.” My advice to Avenue (and of course, I have some) is that if he comes out with a third Amanda Ross mystery he should publish it himself. That way he can change as much as he wants as the need becomes obvious.
The author, a tournament Scrabble player, adds some Scrabble-related acrostics to the book, but with poor results. His wordplays and Amanda’s ability to somehow intuit their meaning are about as believable as the doorstep preacher.
But with all my whining, let’s give this book about 3 stars out of five. That means that there are more good things than bad, and that’s better than most of the dreadful stuff I have been pouring through lately.
I read the first iUniverse paperback edition of this book.
Note: This review is included in my book The Art of the Lesbian Mystery Novel, along with information on over 1250 other lesbian mysteries by over 400 authors.
Having said all that, though, there is not much left to say. Letter Perfect is a title whose relevance to the story escapes me, but then, a lot of the book is that way. It’s a book that you have to read with care or the characters will fade out of your memory. If one of these forgotten names happens to be the culprit, then you are SOL. There are actually a number of criminals, but all were introduced before the dénouements so the fact that two of them seemed to be strangers was my fault.
I will insist, however, that the motive for at least some of the crimes was spurious. In a nutshell, a powerhouse investment counselor contrives a scheme to defraud his customers, thus becoming a target for revenge from those who are defrauded. But the man was a legend in his own office as someone who was among the most expert—and successful—brokers in the business. Why would he concoct a scheme that would harm his reputation? It wasn't as if he needed extra money.
The prose itself is not bad. Sometimes the author’s decision to use italicized words as inner dialogue is a mistake, but not as much of a mistake as many I've seen. When Amanda sees a “catty” receptionist filing her nails, she thinks, “Here kitty, have a ball of yarn and go away.” Things like that. Told in the first person, Avenue’s writing often involves way too much minute description, such as exactly what streets she has to go down to get to her destinations, or the salt-and-pepper descriptions of virtually every character. Several pages could have been deleted this way.
The plot turns in a pleasing way for mystery readers with a lot of twists and turns and red herrings. But the actual solving of the crimes is not as pleasing. One of Amanda’s clues comes from a debunked preacher spouting the gospel on her doorstep. Other plot twists are not quite brought to fruition. It may be a case of “I've spent this much money already on my book (he uses one of those "publishers" that gouge writers), I can’t afford to spend any more to make it right.” My advice to Avenue (and of course, I have some) is that if he comes out with a third Amanda Ross mystery he should publish it himself. That way he can change as much as he wants as the need becomes obvious.
The author, a tournament Scrabble player, adds some Scrabble-related acrostics to the book, but with poor results. His wordplays and Amanda’s ability to somehow intuit their meaning are about as believable as the doorstep preacher.
But with all my whining, let’s give this book about 3 stars out of five. That means that there are more good things than bad, and that’s better than most of the dreadful stuff I have been pouring through lately.
I read the first iUniverse paperback edition of this book.
Note: This review is included in my book The Art of the Lesbian Mystery Novel, along with information on over 1250 other lesbian mysteries by over 400 authors.
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