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Shadow Dance
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Plot Summary of Shadow Dance
"Jordan Buchanan decides to take on an adventure after her life has been described as boring and predictable. So she follows up a treasure hunt introduced to her by her friend's professor. She is intrigued with the professor's research about the ongoing feud between the Buchanans and McKenna and decides to learn more about her family's history. She travels to Serenity, Texas to meet up with the professor and get all his research about the treasure. However 2 days after she meets the professor and when she is about to leave the town, she finds the professor dead and tied inside the trunk of her car. Suddenly she is now a suspect of his murder. Only with the help of her brother and his friend Noah, who are both FBI agents, she has been cleared from the crime. But the murderer is not done yet when 2 more people turned up dead. Not knowing the reason for the sudden cause of murder in the town, Jordan with Noah leave Serenity bringing along the professor's research material. Jordan guesses that the answer of his death lies in the research. Finally Jordan discovers the identity of the killer but before she can confide to Noah, she is shot. Noah is devastated. It's up to him to find out who the murderer is and he has been given a head start when Jordan murmured a name in her sleep after her surgery. Noah determinedly puts all the pieces of the puzzle together and solves the mystery before the murderer can finish his job on Jordan."
Katrina Lo, Resident Scholar



Review Analysis of Shadow Dance
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 - 30%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30%
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 20%




Tone of story - very upbeat
How difficult to spot villain? - Very difficult--no foreshadowing/clues
Time/era of story: - present (2000-2010)
What % of story relates directly to the mystery, not the subplot? - 70%
Misc. Murder Plotlets - killer purposefully leaves puzzle 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
Is Romance a MAJOR (25%+) part of story? Yes

Main Character
Gender - Female
Profession/status: - wealthy
Age: - 20's-30's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events? Yes
How much violence does he/she use? - none
Ethnicity/Race - White/American
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Strong but gentle sense of humor
Intelligence - Very much smarter than other characters
Physique - average physique

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 40's-50's
Profession/status: - small businessman
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a little/some
Motive of antagonist - money/treasure
How sensitive is this character? - mean, arrogant
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - average physique

Setting
United States Yes
The US: - Texas
Small town? Yes
Small town people: - nice, like Andy/Opie/Aunt Bee

Style
Part of a series? Yes
Person - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - moderately detailed references to deaths
How many deaths? - 3-4
Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
Most similar books to Shadow Dance
Some Like It Lethal by Nancy Martin
The Nanny Murders by Merry Jones
Lethal Lies by Laurie Breton
Ahead of the Game by Suzann Ledbetter
This Old Souse by Mary Daheim


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Julie Garwood Resident Scholar Profiles

TOP SCHOLAR:
  
Katrina Lo  

SCHOLARS:
Jess  Kim Raines  Harriet Klausner  


Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s).
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