Scott Free: A Crime Novel

by Marijane Meaker

A mystery set in the Hamptons featuring a transgendered detective.

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Marijane Meaker is also known as M.E. Kerr, Ann Aldrich, and Vin Packer.

Reviews

[Gina Rheault]

I got this for the chance to know and understand the trials and tribulations of a transgender person, and the lead character Scott/Scotti provides more insight than I've ever had. There are awkward references to some transgender memoirs and cameo references to P. Highsmith books. But the Long Island setting and kidnapping plot into which Scotti seemed overpopulated with cameo characters and locations, and light on psychologically complexity and meaningful suspense. So, halfway through I put the book down, picked up another book (Highsmith/The Glass Cell) which completely captured me. I never went back. Sorry.

That said, good effort, and the more we can normalize transgender through stories the better.

[Patrick]

This has probably been one of the strangest books that I have read in a long time. Very weird characters and a strange plot. It wasn't really a mystery story and it certainly wasn't a suspense novel. Just very different.

[LJ]

SCOTT FREE (Suspense-Scotti House-The Hamptons-Cont) – NR
Meaker, Marijand (writing as Vin Packer) - standalone
Carroll & Graf, 2007, US Hardcover – ISBN: 9780786718672
First Sentence: “Look here, Jessica, I’ve made a decision. I’m going ahead with the change.”
*** Private Investigator Scott House is in the process of becoming Scotti House and while finally realizing his true self as a female, it has certainly changed his relationship with his wife and daughter. Len Lasher is a wealthy businessman through to be suffering from MS but actually dying of ALS; a secret well kept by the family and his caretaker
*** I’m not certain what to make of this. I liked the Scott/Scotti who is trying to literally change his life but maintain his two most important relationships. I liked Delroy, the caretaker, and his loyalty to Lasher in spite of Lasher’s wife. But the plot is something of a mess that loses its direction and focus in its seeming desire for eclectic characters. The depiction of the Hamptons is stereotypical. By the time I arrived at the actual mystery, it seemed almost uninteresting. I found this book very disappointing and really can’t recommend it.

[P.]

When I heard that M.E. Kerr wrote mystery novels under the name Vin Packer, I knew I needed to read one. Especially when one of the subject headings was "male-to-female transsexuals".

This is no Books of Fell. But it was entertaining. The plot lacked focus. Was it a mystery novel? If so, where was the mystery? Was it a meditation on the life of a MTF transsexual who happened to have a gut instinct for criminal activity? I guess.