CSI East Coast Episode I (CSI series Book 1)
About
A special unit of the CSI has been created to test a theory. Can a novelist piece together the crime scene through his ability to tell the story? Someone seems to think so, but the two people picked to head up the CSI East Coast are so mismatched it is destined to fail, or is it? A bright and beautiful young lady (Samantha Powers) is chosen because of her medical background. This overachiever obtained her medical degree by age 25 and is now considered an up-and-coming star member among the CSI. But her red hair carries with it the stigma, a temper to match. The second member of the team is an old man (Jonathan West) who is well known for his work as a fiction writer. Many resent this approach as they view novelists as creators of fantasy, and what they want is the truth. Soon they realize both have something to offer in the field of Crime Scene Investigation – if they can manage to close the gap created by the differences in their ages. While humorous to those watching them at work, this team turns out some grand theories. Their first case is a man who has lost his head, literally. In the end, even the FBI seeks the help of the new unit referred to as CSI East Coast!
Praise for this book
5.0 out of 5 stars Start of a Great Series
I love the shows where they do things with DNA and shows that have special teams that can solve crimes, other can't. As this book portrays, some just have that special born into them, like a sixth sense, ability to put things together, that others overlook. Great Job!
3.0 out of 5 stars An intriguing crime story that I find difficult to categorise - a cosy, slightly humorous, murder mystery perhaps?
I found this a rather odd novel as I could not determine who it is aimed at and whether or not it was meant to be a humorous, cosy murder mystery or a more serious crime novel that focuses on the search for a killer using forensic science to identify the clues that will unmask the killer.
The plot is not particularly complex. A man has been beheaded and the search is on for his killer. The narrative follows the investigation of a newly formed special CSI unit that consists of an elderly author (Jonathan West) and a young crime scene investigator (Samantha Powers). The case has a number of twists and turns and in the process more people get killed, numerous motives for the murders get investigated and the two main characters find themselves getting into all sorts of different scrapes.
The language struck me as being rather old fashioned in places; for example, there are many references to Jonathan West as being 'a perfect gentleman', 'an old gentleman', 'the elderly gentleman', (etc.) rather than referring to him by his name. In a similar vein, references to Samantha Powers' 'flaming red hair' are plentiful (as too are references to her being 'attractive' to the many men she comes in contact with throughout the story).
The various characters in the story do not ring true for me. For example, Samantha is young, feisty and, at times, impulsive, which seems at odds with the training one would expect she would have received to be a crime scene investigator. Other characters are quite stereotyped, with the villains being quite evil and many in the local police department being unhelpful or chauvinistic and appearing to be impeding the investigation rather than supporting it on many occasions.
However, the quirkiness of the story held my interest, but I don't think I will be reading other books in the series in spite of their receiving quite positive reviews from other readers.