Book Review: Angel of Death

by Alane Ferguson, a YA forensic mystery.

That's right, a YA forensic mystery, with all that implies, like details about dead bodies that you probably think your YAs shouldn't be exposed to. Neither do a lot of the people in the book, but Cameryn has more problems with her personal life than she does watching an autopsy. Cameryn's the coroner's daughter in a somewhat-fictionalized Silverton, Colorado. She wants to get into forensics when she grows up...actually, she's into forensics now, with a part-time job as her dad's assistant. One of her teachers dies mysteriously...really mysteriously.

The prose is decent, the characters believable, the plot realistic, the mystery okay but not hard (if I can figure it out, it's not hard, as anybody who knows my fight record with Agatha Christie can attest) -- but it's the forensics that shines. Details that made me wince and gag and drop any illusion of ever really wanting to be a M.E. nevertheless left me impressed with the skills involved and the powers of observation the main character brings into play (except in her personal life). But hey. Nobody's perfect.

(Caveat: This is the second book in the series. I picked it up at the Pikes Peak Writers Conference, and all the first-books were out. The first is The Christopher Killer.)