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cellocat6's review against another edition
3.0
It was okay. Good enough to try another McCone mystery but nothing too exciting.
bioniclib's review against another edition
3.0
I found this on my search for my women detectives. There've been women mystery writers a-plenty, but more often than not, they feature detectives whom are men. Ms. Muller's Sharon McCone is actually a doubly-rare creature; she's a, well, she, and she's part Native America, specifically Shosone tribe. This was a slim story, under 200 pages. And while not the greatest, I can see it is a solid start. There were a few similarities between Sharon McCone and Kinsey Milhone.
Sharon has a Hersey bar for breakfast and cookies for lunch, sharing Kinsey's refine palate!
She works for a lay firm, which reminded me of the early Kinsey books when she worked for an insurance company.
The story is about a murder on a street that she'd recently been working on to find an arsonist. Right from the word go, there's a backstory that fleshes out the world. Again, something that Kinsey's world has.
Ms. Muller also faces the woman-being-derided-for-being-in-a-man's profession bit head on. the cop, LT. Marcus flat out says he doesn't think she belongs. So when someone suggested Sharon was interested in him, I was a wee bit annoyed. She also gets it from a couple of the suspects, so it's not that one guy.
All-in-all, a good tale. A little too short to really flex plotting muscles but a good start to the series.
Sharon has a Hersey bar for breakfast and cookies for lunch, sharing Kinsey's refine palate!
She works for a lay firm, which reminded me of the early Kinsey books when she worked for an insurance company.
The story is about a murder on a street that she'd recently been working on to find an arsonist. Right from the word go, there's a backstory that fleshes out the world. Again, something that Kinsey's world has.
Ms. Muller also faces the woman-being-derided-for-being-in-a-man's profession bit head on. the cop, LT. Marcus flat out says he doesn't think she belongs. So when someone suggested Sharon was interested in him, I was a wee bit annoyed.
Spoiler
Then they kiss and it's confirmed. Bah.All-in-all, a good tale. A little too short to really flex plotting muscles but a good start to the series.
nikkimf's review against another edition
5.0
I can’t remember when or how I picked up Edwin of the Iron Shoes, but it was probably in the late 1970s, when I could first afford to buy books. I had grand ideas about my life then. I’d join the NSA and figure out who was up to what. Or I could become a PI like Sharon McCone and catch bad guys. Sharon seemed impossibly old and wise.
I was never going to be Sharon. Somewhere along the way, our paths diverged so much that I stopped buying Ms. Muller’s books. Recently I came across an interview with Ms. Muller, arguably the first writer in the female hard-boiled mystery genre, and decided to give Sharon (and Marcia Muller) another chance. The writing is crisp, with that hard-boiled PI feel at its core, but without the edginess I dislike. I truly enjoyed rereading Edwin of the Iron Shoes.
(Add 10 years to the ages of the shop owners on Salem Street, BTW. I certainly don’t feel old now that I’m in my 60s. But I probably thought that was old in the 1970s.)
I was never going to be Sharon. Somewhere along the way, our paths diverged so much that I stopped buying Ms. Muller’s books. Recently I came across an interview with Ms. Muller, arguably the first writer in the female hard-boiled mystery genre, and decided to give Sharon (and Marcia Muller) another chance. The writing is crisp, with that hard-boiled PI feel at its core, but without the edginess I dislike. I truly enjoyed rereading Edwin of the Iron Shoes.
(Add 10 years to the ages of the shop owners on Salem Street, BTW. I certainly don’t feel old now that I’m in my 60s. But I probably thought that was old in the 1970s.)
posies23's review against another edition
4.0
An entertaining, if slightly pedestrian mystery. Notable for being a forerunner of the "tough girl" PI novels that are so popular today, it shows real promise for a first novel. (It was written in 1977.)
bonstrosity's review against another edition
4.0
Dated in just a couple ways. Otherwise pretty damn solid.
littletaiko's review against another edition
3.0
Read this book since Marcia Muller is going to be a guest of honor at the Left Coast Crime convention that I'm attending in March and I've never read any of her books. Billed a one of the first hard-boiled female detective series it lived up to expectations. I enjoyed the character and the story even if it is a bit dated. Look forward to reading more by her going forward.