The Liar's Lullaby

April 12, 2010
Jo Beckett investigates a national security threat in Edgar-winner Gardiner’s absorbing third thriller to feature the San Francisco forensic psychiatrist (after The Memory Collector
). When troubled country singer Tasia McFarland—who happens to be the U.S. president’s ex-wife—dies of a gunshot wound to the neck during a stunt that goes awry at a huge outdoor concert, Jo’s SFPD friend, Lt. Amy Tang, asks Jo to help determine whether Tasia, who fired a Colt .45 automatic as part of the stunt, shot herself or was shot by an assassin. The ballistics are inconclusive. As Jo looks into the sordid details of Tasia’s life, an antigovernment extremist, Tom Paine, who runs a conspiracy-fueled Web site called Tree of Liberty, accuses people in the government—in particular, President Robert McFarland—of orchestrating Tasia’s death and demands punishment for those responsible. Despite the broad scope of Jo’s inquiry, Gardiner mostly manages to keep the far-reaching plot on course.

May 1, 2010
The SFPD once more calls on forensic psychiatrist Jo Beckett, this time to help explain the shooting death of a singer/songwriter whose showy comeback entrance to a concert stage was cut short when she was shot halfway down her zipline.

Tasia McFarland has always been a wild woman, so it's no surprise when she plans to zip down a wire to join her lover, rocker Searle Lacroix, onstage at the Giants' ballpark, amid billows of manufactured smoke. The surprise is that when she emerges from the smoke, Tasia's been shot in the neck, evidently with the .45 she was holding herself only seconds before—a weapon that's legally registered to her long-ago husband, Robert McFarland, who in the meantime has been elected President of the United States. Clearly there are some tricky angles here. Lt. Amy Tang, the homicide detective who's on the scene along with Jo and her sister Tina, wants to know whether Tasia shot herself or had help. At first the case for suicide seems overwhelming. After bipolar Tasia went off her meds, a timely Xanax put her into a mixed state in which she was both excited and depressed. On the other hand, she told anyone who'd listen that she feared an assassination attempt that was only the beginning of a bigger plot (against the president?) and left behind two new songs she claimed would hold the clues to her murder. Though she sheds curiously little light on Tasia's state of mind, Jo does some smart detective work linking the volatile performer to both a determined stalker and a right-wing conspiracy whose home base is the Tree of Liberty website published by one Tom Paine. The ambitious, preposterous plot is filled with interoffice power plays, suspect political operatives, double-crosses by media types and action sequences, which Gardiner (The Memory Collector, 2009, etc.) pumps up brilliantly.

Catnip for Jeffery Deaver fans who can't wait for their next fix and like-minded souls who value constant stimulation over plausibility.

(COPYRIGHT (2010) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

June 15, 2010

While performing a stunt before a sold-out crowd, Tasia McFarland, country star and ex-wife of the President of the United States, is dramatically killed by a shot to the neck. Police can't determine whether Tasia's death was suicide or murder, and forensic psychiatrist Jo Beckett is enlisted to piece together Tasia's final days to unravel the mystery. Her investigation into the late star's complicated life uncovers several possible motives. Was Tasia's death the result of her fragile emotional state? Connected to an extremist antigovernment movement? Or linked to her ex-spouse? As Jo gets closer to the truth, she faces danger up close and personal but refuses to back down. VERDICT With her third installment in the Jo Beckett series (after The Dirty Secrets Club and The Memory Collector), Gardiner delivers an action-packed thriller that will hold readers' interest, despite sometimes improbable situations. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 2/1/10.]--Mary Todd Chestnut, North Kentucky Univ. Lib., Highland Heights

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from May 1, 2010
Tasia McFarland may be a has-been country singer, but her status as ex-wife of the current president keeps her in the public eye. At the opening of Gardiners third mystery to feature San Francisco forensic psychiatrist Jo Beckett (after The Memory Collector, 2009), McFarland is killed when a stunt at one of her concerts goes terribly awry. Speculation about her death abounds, given the singers well-publicized bouts with bipolar mania. Was her tragic end just a grandioseand very publicsuicide, or had she really been in mortal danger as one of her recent songs claimed? Beckett takes the case, and when probing puts her in the path of a stalker, she becomes convinced that the threats to Tasia were real. She hopes Ace Chennault, ghostwriter of Tasias forthcoming biography, can shed some light. (He claims to have explosive revelations about Tasias affair with fellow country singer Searle Lecroix but refuses to divulge them.) The sharp investigator forges ahead, making herself the target of right-wing radicals with assassination on their minds. Breathless suspense, slick plotting, and a cast of compelling characters make this a solid addition to Edgar winner Gardiners dossier of superlative thrillers with appeal both for pure suspense fans and those who favor well-delineated characters.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)