Murder at the Washington Tribune

Instead of using an actual D.C. locale, Truman sets her solid 21st mystery (after 2004's Murder at Union Station) at the fictional Washington Tribune, not to be confused with any actual newspaper. When two young, attractive female media professionals, one a Tribune employee, are murdered, veteran crime reporter Joe Wilcox, who's been feeling the heat from his boss, senses a chance to improve his position by theorizing that a serial killer is at work. To complicate matters, Joe's brother, Michael, who was long ago institutionalized for killing a young girl, arrives in town and begins to insinuate himself back into Joe's life. Joe's daughter, Roberta, an up-and-coming local TV newscaster, competes for scoops as more mayhem follows. Truman works hard to put all the pieces together, and though it's not her most plausible puzzle, she delivers a satisfying resolution to what becomes a cautionary tale about ambition and a vote for journalistic integrity.
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Joe Wilcox, veteran police reporter for the Washington Tribune, is plagued with increasing self-doubt about his stalled career, feeling more and more pressure from younger, up-and-coming colleagues and from the need to compete with TV and the tabloids. Ironically, his beloved, energetic daughter, Roberta, is one of the up-and-comers, an award-winning broadcast journalist whose tough investigative reporting has begun to be noticed. The death of a Tribune reporter, found strangled in a closet at one end of the newsroom, is big news among the Washington media, and the case puts Joe and Roberta into an awkward competition that could threaten their close relationship, which is further compromised when Joe's long-estranged brother wants to reenter Joe's life. The mystery falls flat, but Truman, whose Capital Crimes series now numbers more than 20, offers a strong portrait of a middle-aged man forced to face the fact that his life is collapsing around him--and it's partly his own fault. Stephanie Zvirin
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