Larger Than Death

by Lynne Murray

Overview

Meet Josephine Fuller, a sleuth of size who doesn't apologize. Larger Than Death introduces "Jo" Fuller, full-figured and full of attitude with abundant sleuthing skills. In Larger Than Death Joe takes time off from her new job checking out potential charities for an eccentric socialite and walks into a murder scene. Her best friend and early role model, Nina -- a plus-sized clothing designed -- lies slain in her own apartment. Was she the victim of a serial killer who targets voluptuous women? or is the murder personal? As Jo copes with her friend's murder, an unexpected romance and a bizarre host of neighbors, she races to find the killer before becoming the next victim.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781597190404
Publisher:	Pearlsong Press
Publication date:	07/07/2011
Pages:	250
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.57(d)

Editorial Reviews

Big is beautiful in this debut. "I've never weighed less than 200 pounds in my adult life," declares amateur sleuth Josephine Fuller, "not counting the chip on my shoulder." Troubleshooter for a philanthropist, Fuller uses a Seattle trip to visit her friend Nina West, who makes lovely large-size dresses and instills self-confidence in her heavy customers. Fuller finds Nina murdered, with "Kill the Whales!" lipsticked on the bathroom mirror. A slasher dubbed Captain Ahab has dispatched several full-figured women in similar fashion. There's an apartment house full of suspects, including mercurial building manager Nadine, a scary computer nerd named Eric and the secretive Mulligan, Nina's apparent boyfriend, with whom Fuller quickly (and guiltily) falls in lust. Fuller soon uncovers Nina's past involvement in a religious cult and an unlikely connection with a manipulative diet guru who made millions by preying on the insecurities of overweight people. Sometimes, Murray's attempts to add extra wit to Fuller's narration yield only precious cuteness, and the messagethat those who wear large sizes are people, tooclangs loudly and often. But Fuller is a character of substance, not just size. She and her strong supporting cast should produce even better entertainment when she gets that chip off her shoulder. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

A "person of substance" is what Alicia Madrone's ad calls for, and a person of substance is what she gets: full-figured Josephine Fuller, who's got just the right attitude (and enough of it) to work as an undercover cop filing reports on prospective recipients for Mrs. Madrone's feminist philanthropy. But the real action comes on one of Josephine's rare days off, when she arrives for a visit with her old friend, Nina West, of Luna Moth Fashions, to find Nina with her throat horribly cut and a notice posted in blood on the bathroom mirror: "KILL THE WHALES." The manifesto seems to link Nina's death to the slayings of four previous queen-sized victims, a serial killer the Seattle police have dubbed Captain Ahab. But Josephine wonders if the killer might be a copycat trading on Ahab's notoriety to make a grab for Nina's inheritance—until she finds out that she herself is the principal legatee, along with a mysterioso called William Turnbow Crain. Venturing to enigmatic Crain's alleged home in remote Twila, Washington, at the will's urging, Josephine succeeds only in provoking another murder, even as suspects—ranging from a preacher/pornographer out of Nina's colorful past to the Viking bachelor in her basement—are multiplying like the pounds insensitive diet guru Andrew Stack is urging Josephine to check into one of his franchises to shed.

Josephine's solid detective work is marred by too generous a use of coincidence in the murder plot. Maybe next time, if Murray (Termination Interview, 1988, etc.) shows her heroine actually on the job, she'll have a case more worthy of her talents.

Kirkus Reviews