Reviews

The McCone Files by Marcia Muller

aclarehoman's review

3.0

Short story collections are so difficult to review. In almost all cases, you like some stories really well, some stories so-so, and some even less. This collection's no exception.

Longtime fans of the series will appreciate extra time with some of their favorite characters and periods in McCone's life (Don Del Boccio ftw!) and there are, as always, wonderful chewy bits of San Francisco scenery and history to snack on. They occupy tiny niches in the McCone timeline, and that's good enough for me.

superwendy's review against another edition

3.0

A nice listen for fans. It was fun to place where in the series timeline each story takes place. Pleasant way to pass the time but nothing that lit my world on fire.

nocto's review

This is one of two volumes of short stories featuring Sharon McCone that I've been saving for rainy days. I finally finished all the stories and whilst I'm rarely very impressed with short stories in general and these are no exception to that rule there are two stories here that work really well.

This volume of stories covers the time that Sharon spent as the staff investigator at All Souls Legal Cooperative in San Francisco. It's fun to dive back into these days and see the old characters from the books again. The two stories I love could be considered to be just one story. The opening story covers the day that Sharon is hired by the cooperative, then a group of young and idealistic lawyers, and the closing story covers the day she leaves as the cooperative turns corporate. A single case binds these two stories together and it's good to see an author using two stories to tell a story that wouldn't have worked without the time lapse.

amalyndb's review

4.0

Collection of short stories, covering the years Sharon McCone worked with All Souls. These were lovely to read, to get bits filled in between the novels.

One thought that struck me: on entering a room, how would Sharon know a comforter is goose down? Only thing I have thought of is perhaps synthetic filled comforters had polyester exteriors in that time period in terms of what was typically on the market in California, with goose down being covered in cotton? Or possibly it was a down filled duvet without cover on it?

Internal misgendering (two sentences) within one story, Silent Night, (of the “which pronoun do I use?” variety), as well as use of term transvestite. Consider time period depicted and when these stories were written.

audreyintheheadphones's review against another edition

3.0

Short story collections are so difficult to review. In almost all cases, you like some stories really well, some stories so-so, and some even less. This collection's no exception.

Longtime fans of the series will appreciate extra time with some of their favorite characters and periods in McCone's life (Don Del Boccio ftw!) and there are, as always, wonderful chewy bits of San Francisco scenery and history to snack on. They occupy tiny niches in the McCone timeline, and that's good enough for me.