The Gemini Man is Susan Kelly's debut novel and the first in a series of mysteries starring Liz Connors, free-lance writer, and her police lieutenant lover, Jack Lingemann. The setting is Cambridge, Massachusetts--with strong ties to Harvard University. Liz has lived in her new apartment building only three weeks and hasn't had time to really get to know her neighbors. But she comes home one evening to discover her next door neighbor Joan Stanley battered to death in a particularly violent crime. More deaths follow and Liz feels driven to do what she can to help Jack get to the bottom of what looks to be the work of a sexually-driven serial killer. Liz's leads take her to a crisis counseling center in Cambridge, the Harvard Psychology Department, and singles bars. But she doesn't expect her investigation to bring the danger so close to home.
Definitely a product of the 80s, the story is laced with humor and realistic characters. It gives us a peek back into what life was like twenty years ago (some of us remember...). I enjoyed the relationship between Liz and Jack and also enjoyed her abilities to get people to talk to her. Her job as a free-lance writer made it very plausible that others might confide in her when they were reluctant to talk to the police. The one draw-back--I spotted the culprit early on and the red herrings and false clues just weren't strong enough to cloud the issue. But--a good first book. Good enough that I'd certainly give this author another try. Three stars.
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