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Shadow of a Doubt
Karen McCullough Book Review

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Plot Summary of Shadow of a Doubt
"When Detective Liz Ramsey is called out in the middle of the night to investigate the murder of a young woman who may or may not be a prostitute, she recognizes right away that the case could be complicated. There's no obvious motive or suspect in the death.. She doesn't intend to become romantically involved with a witness in the case, but Greg Conyers is too attractive to ignore. The mysterious and reclusive local celebrity lives with his dying mother in a decaying old mansion next door to the site of the murder. He claims he didn't hear anything that night, but is he telling the truth? When the evidence starts pointing to Greg as the chief suspect, Liz will have to make an agonizing decision about who to trust. She'll have to put her career, and even her life, on the line to catch a killer. "
Karen McCullough, Resident Scholar

"When Detective Liz Ramsey is called out in the middle of the night to investigate the murder of a young woman who may or may not be a prostitute, she recognizes right away that the case could be complicated. There's no obvious motive or suspect in the death..
She doesn't intend to become romantically involved with a witness in the case, but Greg Conyers is too attractive to ignore. The mysterious and reclusive local celebrity lives with his dying mother in a decaying old mansion next door to the site of the murder. He claims he didn't hear anything that night, but is he telling the truth? When the evidence starts pointing to Greg as the chief suspect, Liz will have to make an agonizing decision about who to trust. She'll have to put her career, and even her life, on the line to catch a killer.
"

Rachel Elmslie, Resident Scholar


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Review Analysis of Shadow of a Doubt
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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 - Dry-cynical - suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
How difficult to spot villain? - Moderately Challenging - Somewhat obvious
Time/era of story: - 1980's-1999 - present (2000-2010)
What % of story relates directly to the mystery, not the subplot? - 70%
Special suspect? - lover
Murder of certain profession? - prostitutes/stripper/porn
Misc. Murder Plotlets - character killed during/after sexing - Proving innocence of very obvious suspect - Big focus on forensic evidence
Kind of investigator - police procedural, American
Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Any non-mystery subplot? - feelings towards lover
Crime Thriller Yes
Murder Mystery (killer unknown) Yes

Main Character
Gender - Female
Profession/status: - police/lawman
Age: - 20's-30's
How much violence does he/she use? - a little - just the right amount
Ethnicity/Race - White/American
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings - middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Strong but gentle sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - very athletic

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 20's-30's - 40's-50's
Profession/status: - artist
Has special powers? Yes
Magical/mental powers of main antagonist: - is very quick - mind reading - clairvoyant
Eccentric: Yes - eccentric - mentally ill
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a moderate amount - an above average amount
Motive of antagonist - insanity
How sensitive is this character? - hard edged - mean, arrogant
Sense of humor - Strong but gentle sense of humor
Intelligence - Dumb - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - average physique

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

Style
Person - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - moderately detailed references to deaths - very gorey descriptions deaths/dead bodies
How many deaths? - 3-4
Sex Yes
What kind of sex: - vague references - descript of kissing - licking - actual description of sex - descript. of male nudity
Is this an e-book? Yes
Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog - significantly more descript than dialog
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