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Murder in a Nice Neighborhood - Liz Sullivan Mysteries 1
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Plot Summary of Murder in a Nice Neighborhood - Liz Sullivan Mysteries 1
"Liz Sullivan was innocently enjoying a pear and a book when Pigpen Murphy accosted her. Liz could just never get it through to Pigpen that she wasn't interested and never would be interested, bad smell notwithstanding. It is true that she had to be a little more forceful than usual, slamming the door shut on her home, her snug little VW bus, and Pigpen's hand just happened to be in the way at the time, but was that any reason for him to smash a fist through her window? Things just got worse when Liz woke up to find a very dead Pigpen underneath her bus the next morning.

Detective Paul Drake obviously regarded Liz as his prime suspect and a strong flight risk, due to her highly mobile "house." Liz greatly resented Detective Drake prying into her affairs and ripping apart her carefully constructed life in Palo Alto, CA. Liz liked living in the Bay area and didn't want to move, but she knew that it would only be a matter of time before her abusive ex-husband would show up. Still, she couldn't leave before the police investigation was cleared up, so Liz continued researching her new article, teaching a Senior Center Writer's Workshop, swimming at the local pool and helping out the temporarily incapacitated Claudia Kaplan. However, as Liz continued to maintain her innocence, more bodies began to pile up with another vagabond and a sweet old lady being murdered in the same manner. And Liz was the last one reported to see them alive...

"

Debbie, Resident Scholar

Review Analysis of Murder in a Nice Neighborhood - Liz Sullivan Mysteries 1
Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
descript. of violence and chases - 20%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 40%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30%
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 10%




Tone of story - very upbeat
How difficult to spot villain? - Somewhat obvious
Time/era of story: - 1980's-1999
What % of story relates directly to the mystery, not the subplot? - 60%
Special suspect? - investigator him/herself
Murder of certain profession? - bums
Misc. Murder Plotlets - Proving innocence of very obvious suspect - Killer purposely leaves clues
Kind of investigator - amateur citizen investigator
Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Any non-mystery subplot? - feelings towards family/friends
Crime Thriller Yes
Murder Mystery (killer unknown) Yes

Main Character
Gender - Female
Profession/status: - unemployed
Age: - 20's-30's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events? Yes
How much violence does he/she use? - a little
Ethnicity/Race - White/American
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - very athletic

Main Adversary
Identity: - Female
Age: - 20's-30's
Profession/status: - killer
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a moderate amount
Motive of antagonist - money/treasure
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - very athletic

Setting
United States Yes
The US: - West
City? Yes

Style
Part of a series? Yes
Person - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - moderately detailed references to deaths
How many deaths? - 3-4
Unusual forms of death - poisoning - blunt clubbing (like seals)
Unusual form of death? Yes
Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
Most similar books to Murder in a Nice Neighborhood - Liz Sullivan Mysteries 1
Why Isn't Becky Twitchell Dead? by Mark Richard Zubro
Major Vices by Mary Daheim
Maggie Needs an Alibi by Kasey Michaels
Reservations for Murder by Tim Myers
Foreign Body by Kathleen Taylor


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