Book Review: Sharon McCone Rarely Has A Safe Hour

The Dangerous Hour is an entertaining enough mystery by long-time author Marcia Muller and features private investigator Sharon McCone.

McCone has been building her private investigation agency into quite a sizable operation in San Francisco. When one of her operatives gets arrested at her office for credit card fraud, Sharon wastes no time trying to determine the truth of this matter which could seriously damage her reputation. McCone has made a lot of enemies over the years, and her friend has a troubling past of her own. She has a loyal and capable team to help, but the matter becomes more complicated when murder comes into play.

Yet again, this is another occasion where I started reading something that is not the first in the series. I have been aware of this series for many years, but this is the first time I gave it a try.

The mystery was pretty good. McCone is standard female protagonist with a troubled family history and a fear of commitment. I was struck by how bland she appeared to be as a character. There was little that stood out about her among the pantheon of female private eyes in this genre.

The novel is not a terrible read or anything, but there was not much that stood out.

It is written in first person from McCone’s perspective, which is a fine way to go.

There is no real reason to avoid this author or this series, however I found no real reason to be in a hurry to get back to it.

I will be returning to the works of Lawrence Block with A Stab in the Dark.