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A Maggie MacGowen Mystery #2
Midnight Baby
Maggie investigates the murder of a strange young streetwalkerIn Los Angeles making a documentary about upscale day cares, Maggie MacGowen visits MacArthur Park to get contrasting footage of the pubescent prostitutes that populate its dark corners. There she meets Pisces, a fourteen-year-old hooker with manners that don’t match her profession. As they bond over a plate of pastrami, Maggie talks her into spending the night in a shelter. But Pisces comes with baggage: a nine-year-old hoodlum named Sly. Maggie takes them both to a convent, where they are fed, bathed, and tucked into bed, just like normal children. The next day, Pisces is dead, her throat slashed by an unknown hand. The Los Angeles Police Department has little time for murdered hookers, so it falls to Maggie to find the killer. The keys to the case are the young girl’s manners, and the fact that she died with her virginity intact.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 1993
About the author
Wendy Hornsby
55 books25 followersI can’t remember ever not knowing that I was a writer. When I was in the second grade, because I was forever writing little stories, my teacher, a lovely woman named Barbara Heath, gave me her own copy of Little Women, to keep. Hardcover, illustrated, no less. The story wasn’t so much magic for me as was the character of Jo March. Somehow I knew Jo, I pretended I was her sometimes, and knew I was going to grow up to be, as she was, a writer.
When I was in fourth grade, I turned pro. My essay, “Why I love Camp Nawakwa,” won a community contest, earning me a camp scholarship, and my future was set. Sort of. Loving Camp Nawakwa was my writing pinnacle for quite a while.
When it was time for college, I headed off to UCLA, where I tried on a large number of majors before I decided on History. History, well told, has more romance, adventure, intrigue, courage, provocative mystery than any fiction that can be imagined. Besides, the process of historical research and writing mysteries have a great deal in common. One snoops through the remnants of people’s lives – real or fictional – asking the important who, what, where, and when questions and implying insight with the hope of making sense of things. The study of History is great preparation for a writer, especially a writer of mysteries.
The afternoon that I learned I had passed my comprehensive exams for the Masters degree in History at CSULB, I was hired to teach History as an adjunct at Long Beach City College. Over the next decades I taught, went to school some more, raised two beautiful babies to adulthood, acquired a full-time tenured position at LBCC, and, somehow, between school and soccer and baseball and school plays, managed to get seven mystery novels and many, many short stories published. Amazing how that happened.
When my kids, Alyson and Christopher, were of a certain age, I took them to visit The Orchard House in Concord, Massachusetts, where Louisa May Alcott grew up and where she wrote Little Women. I stood in her upstairs bedroom, beside the little half-moon desk where she created Jo March, and thanked her for giving a little girl a bit of courage to believe that she, too, could be a writer.
Wendy Hornsby is the Edgar Award winning author of the Maggie MacGowen mysteries.
When I was in fourth grade, I turned pro. My essay, “Why I love Camp Nawakwa,” won a community contest, earning me a camp scholarship, and my future was set. Sort of. Loving Camp Nawakwa was my writing pinnacle for quite a while.
When it was time for college, I headed off to UCLA, where I tried on a large number of majors before I decided on History. History, well told, has more romance, adventure, intrigue, courage, provocative mystery than any fiction that can be imagined. Besides, the process of historical research and writing mysteries have a great deal in common. One snoops through the remnants of people’s lives – real or fictional – asking the important who, what, where, and when questions and implying insight with the hope of making sense of things. The study of History is great preparation for a writer, especially a writer of mysteries.
The afternoon that I learned I had passed my comprehensive exams for the Masters degree in History at CSULB, I was hired to teach History as an adjunct at Long Beach City College. Over the next decades I taught, went to school some more, raised two beautiful babies to adulthood, acquired a full-time tenured position at LBCC, and, somehow, between school and soccer and baseball and school plays, managed to get seven mystery novels and many, many short stories published. Amazing how that happened.
When my kids, Alyson and Christopher, were of a certain age, I took them to visit The Orchard House in Concord, Massachusetts, where Louisa May Alcott grew up and where she wrote Little Women. I stood in her upstairs bedroom, beside the little half-moon desk where she created Jo March, and thanked her for giving a little girl a bit of courage to believe that she, too, could be a writer.
Wendy Hornsby is the Edgar Award winning author of the Maggie MacGowen mysteries.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
July 5, 2008
MIDNIGHT BABY - Ex
Hornsby, Wendy - 2nd in series
Investigative filmmaker Maggie MacGown sees 14-year-old hooker, Pisces, in LA's MadArthur Park. Maggie takes her to a shelter for the night, but the next night, Pisces is found back in the park with her throat cut.
This is an excellent book in a great series. I particularly love the relationship between Maggie and homicide detective, Mike Flynn.
Hornsby, Wendy - 2nd in series
Investigative filmmaker Maggie MacGown sees 14-year-old hooker, Pisces, in LA's MadArthur Park. Maggie takes her to a shelter for the night, but the next night, Pisces is found back in the park with her throat cut.
This is an excellent book in a great series. I particularly love the relationship between Maggie and homicide detective, Mike Flynn.
June 23, 2014
Reviewed for audiogals:
http://www.audiogals.net/2014/06/midn...
Narrated by Donna Postel
In Midnight Baby, we jump back into Maggie’s life just about six months after the close of Telling Lies, the first in the Maggie MacGowen Mystery series. The book opens with Maggie, a well-known documentary filmmaker, and her cameraman attempting to interview a young prostitute going by the name of Pisces. Pisces is shadowed by an even younger boy called Sly, and after noticing that the two are being watched by someone in a red Corvette, Maggie gets the pair to reluctantly accept a meal and a bed at a local shelter run by nuns. Less than 48 hours later, Pisces is dead and Sly is the only witness to the murder.
Maggie feels a connection to the “lost girl” and she possibly has valuable evidence in the film she shot of Pisces. This reconnects Maggie with Detective Mike Flint. She started a relationship with Mike while investigating Maggie’s sister’s shooting (Telling Lies). We learn that they haven’t seen each other in six months, and, as they piece together the convoluted puzzle of this murder, Mike and Maggie also try to piece together the puzzle that is their relationship. The relationship story arc is still second to the mystery, but takes a larger role in this novel than the first. Hornsby weaves the romance and the mystery through the book with a deft hand, never obscuring one with the other. Instead, she uses the emotional forces originating from the tragic murder to interact with and subtly influence the emotions emanating from the revived relationship—and vice versa. The author seems to know emotions can’t be neatly separated into boxes or categories.
Donna Postel returns to narrate this second book of the series. Her narration is very like the first time—not overly dramatic or emotional in her delivery, but very professional and easy to listen to. It’s taken me a few minutes to become accustomed to her voice both times I’ve listened to her narrations. On first exposure, I feel like it’s a little flat – lacking animation. But that feeling passes quickly as I get pulled into the story. Postel’s differentiation of characters is often subtle, and when there are stretches of conversations with no dialog markers, the listener may get confused about who is talking. Since that only happens a few times in the book, it isn’t much of a problem.
As with Telling Lies, there are no cell phones in this story, and computers don’t play a role in solving the crime. This isn’t a problem for me. In fact, I enjoy police procedurals set before the current technological revolution because the brainwork of the investigators takes center stage. Think of this as a “period piece” set in the not-so-distant past, and you’ll be fine.
The mystery here is well worth the time. As Mike and Maggie unravel the mystery, each discovery leads to another question and the answers are often unexpected. The book is populated with intensely real people, shown with strengths, weaknesses, and fears we can all understand. I’m sold on the Maggie MacGowen Mysteries and can’t wait to listen to number three.
http://www.audiogals.net/2014/06/midn...
Narrated by Donna Postel
In Midnight Baby, we jump back into Maggie’s life just about six months after the close of Telling Lies, the first in the Maggie MacGowen Mystery series. The book opens with Maggie, a well-known documentary filmmaker, and her cameraman attempting to interview a young prostitute going by the name of Pisces. Pisces is shadowed by an even younger boy called Sly, and after noticing that the two are being watched by someone in a red Corvette, Maggie gets the pair to reluctantly accept a meal and a bed at a local shelter run by nuns. Less than 48 hours later, Pisces is dead and Sly is the only witness to the murder.
Maggie feels a connection to the “lost girl” and she possibly has valuable evidence in the film she shot of Pisces. This reconnects Maggie with Detective Mike Flint. She started a relationship with Mike while investigating Maggie’s sister’s shooting (Telling Lies). We learn that they haven’t seen each other in six months, and, as they piece together the convoluted puzzle of this murder, Mike and Maggie also try to piece together the puzzle that is their relationship. The relationship story arc is still second to the mystery, but takes a larger role in this novel than the first. Hornsby weaves the romance and the mystery through the book with a deft hand, never obscuring one with the other. Instead, she uses the emotional forces originating from the tragic murder to interact with and subtly influence the emotions emanating from the revived relationship—and vice versa. The author seems to know emotions can’t be neatly separated into boxes or categories.
Donna Postel returns to narrate this second book of the series. Her narration is very like the first time—not overly dramatic or emotional in her delivery, but very professional and easy to listen to. It’s taken me a few minutes to become accustomed to her voice both times I’ve listened to her narrations. On first exposure, I feel like it’s a little flat – lacking animation. But that feeling passes quickly as I get pulled into the story. Postel’s differentiation of characters is often subtle, and when there are stretches of conversations with no dialog markers, the listener may get confused about who is talking. Since that only happens a few times in the book, it isn’t much of a problem.
As with Telling Lies, there are no cell phones in this story, and computers don’t play a role in solving the crime. This isn’t a problem for me. In fact, I enjoy police procedurals set before the current technological revolution because the brainwork of the investigators takes center stage. Think of this as a “period piece” set in the not-so-distant past, and you’ll be fine.
The mystery here is well worth the time. As Mike and Maggie unravel the mystery, each discovery leads to another question and the answers are often unexpected. The book is populated with intensely real people, shown with strengths, weaknesses, and fears we can all understand. I’m sold on the Maggie MacGowen Mysteries and can’t wait to listen to number three.
May 2, 2010
While filming a documentary on raising children, filmmaker Maggie Magowan encounters a 14 year old street girl named Pisces. Feeling a strong emotional tug for the girl the same age of her own daughter, Maggie reaches out to this tough talking yet vulnerable girl. Maggie finds out she's a mass of contradictions that reveals a well-to-do upbringing. When Pisces is murdered, Maggie pursues the story, the questions for Pisces.
Maggie also reunites with LA detective Mike Flint with hot, steamy results. Maggie must confront her own conflicts about committment, loving, and caring.
THis is a very moving book, not a sweet happy ending cozy murder mystery. The victim didn't deserve to die and the answers her murder raises up many unpleasant past truths and while it provides answers, some of them include loss, grief, and betrayal.
Very well written, with great humor, and a riveting story.
Maggie also reunites with LA detective Mike Flint with hot, steamy results. Maggie must confront her own conflicts about committment, loving, and caring.
THis is a very moving book, not a sweet happy ending cozy murder mystery. The victim didn't deserve to die and the answers her murder raises up many unpleasant past truths and while it provides answers, some of them include loss, grief, and betrayal.
Very well written, with great humor, and a riveting story.
September 6, 2014
A strong 4. I enjoyed this even more than book 1. I am rereading this series. I enjoyed the plot and thought the plot threads were nicely intertwined - both the bad guys as well as Mike and Maggie and their families.
April 1, 2015
Quickly becoming one of my favorite series. Eminently readable with strong characters who aren't cookie cutter in the ways they act and well thought out plots. it's at least a 4 and a half star, but I am rounding upward.
January 25, 2016
Maggie MacGowen and Mike Flint are characters are delineated carefully as admirable humans, ones to care about. The plot was twisty and used Maggie's skills with telling visual stories on film and with her empathic connection with her "subjects". And, so begins the plot.
May 26, 2012
Mystery, strong plot.
February 5, 2013
Some disturbing scenarios as in most murder stories. Well written, some lovable characters, and hope for their futures.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews