A review by bioniclib
Edwin of the Iron Shoes by Marcia Muller

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.

Spoiler

Then they kiss and it's confirmed. Bah.

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.