In my ongoing foray into the world of mysteries, I recently picked up the audio book of Veil of Night, by Linda Howard, the prolific writer of that sub-genre known as romantic suspense. Although I've never been a fan of romance novels, for the sake of familiarizing myself with an author who takes up a lot of shelf space in my library, I decided that maybe it was time for me to give Howard a try. I will say that it was an interesting experience -in fact, It was Veil of Night that pushed me over into the rant zone that I have been inhabiting for the past several weeks. As I proceed with my book report, some of this should start to sound very familiar.
The main protagonist in Veil of Night is Jaclyn Wilde, a very attractive young woman who co-owns a very successful wedding planning business with her also very attractive 50-something mother. Mother and daughter both drive Jaguars, the better to impress prospective clients. Working for them are a young and attractive light skinned black woman and a lusty fifty-ish woman who, in spite of her ample figure, never seems to want for male attention. Included among the people Jaclyn deals with during the course of a typical week are a gay florist and a talented and proud Latina veil designer.
Jaclyn and the very studly detective Eric Wilder (note the adorableness of the last names) "meet cute" when they literally bump into each other at the police station when Jaclyn stops by to pay a parking ticket. Working with Eric is an older detective who is henpecked by his wife but who loves her anyway.
The crime victim in this story is Carrie Edwards, a bridezilla client of Jaclyn's who has insulted or otherwise abused virtually everyone with whom she has come into contact. This includes even her best childhood friend who has dropped out of the wedding party after a very public confrontation with Carrie. Although we don't get to find out too much about Carrie's fiance other than that he seems to be way too nice a guy for the likes of Carrie, we do get to meet Carrie's future father-in -law, a distinguished looking gray haired gentleman who is not only rich but also a member of Congress.
The story started off predictably enough with Carrie being murdered - she was portrayed in such an extreme way that I would have been able to believe that even Mahatma Gandhi would have been capable of killing her had he somehow time travelled his way into current day Atlanta. However, the manner in which Carrie is killed, although it is clearly designed to maintain the prevailing standard of "cute," is just too ridiculous to be even remotely believable. Even so, at this early point in the novel, I was actually enjoying the anticipation of working my way through the story as the identity of the person or persons responsible for the crime would slowly begin to be revealed to me. Unfortunately (and without going into too much detail in case you plan to read this book yourself), I was extremely let down by the book's denouement. It was almost as if Howard had put the names of all the characters into a hat, picked one, and then did a perfunctory job of coming up with the motivations and back story that would explain the murder. In other words, when the murderer was finally revealed, not only was there no real satisfaction in finding out who the culprit was, there was also no real satisfaction to be had in finding out why he or she did it. Excluding a few explanatory details, it wasn't anything we hadn't already seen somewhere else.
At one point during the novel, the reader is treated to a description of a seemingly tasteless "redneck" wedding, albeit one at which everybody truly knows how to have a good time, even without spending a lot of money. There is also the matter of Detective Wilder improbably (but cutely) finding himself unwittingly walking into one crime scene after another when all he is trying to do is get himself a decent cup of coffee. Of course, thanks to quick thinking, Eric always manages to get the bad guy and emerge a hero. Now how adorable is that?
Have we had enough of the stereotypes yet? I am sorry that it did not occur to me to start counting them as I was listening to the audio book. If it weren't for the fact that I was listening to this book while driving, it would have made a great drinking game.
One thing I do have to give Howard credit for is her ability to write a hard core sex scene. Nothing is held back in her description of body parts and who does what to whom, to the point where I had to turn off the CD player in my car when I stopped for gas so that the gas station attendant (I live in New Jersey ) would not overhear and think I was a pervert. Unfortunately, this extended descriptive interlude did nothing to otherwise flesh out (pun intended) the characters or move the story line forward; that scene could have been interjected into pretty much any other book that features an extremely attractive heterosexual couple.
Linda Howard has been writing for a long time and has written an extraordinary number of books, including many that have been best sellers, so she is obviously doing something that appeals to a lot of readers. I just happen not to be one of them.
