Cold Blood

by Theresa Monsour

Book Overview

Paris Murphy, the brilliant detective heroine of Monsour's riveting first novel, Clean Cut, returns in this story of cliffhanger suspense (BookPage) to track a vicious killer with whom she shares a... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0399151567
• ISBN13: 9780399151569
• Release Date: May 2004
• Publisher: G. P. Putnam's Sons
• Length: 308 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.3" x 9.2"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Gritty, fast-paced plot and a dynamite, take-charge detective make for an entertaining read!

When bridesmaid Bunny Pederson vanishes after a friend's wedding, a search is mounted in the community of Moose Lake, Minnesota. Justice Trip, a traveling salesman & "concerned citizen," volunteers to be a member of the search party and finds the woman's finger...just the severed finger not the entire body. Yuck! He is rewarded for his efforts by mega-publicity and lauded as the community hero. Don't ask me why...he only found a finger. Paris Murphy, a Twin Cities Police Department detective, sees news coverage of the event on TV and remembers Trip from high school. Back then he was a social misfit who had a crush on her. Paris' jock boyfriend & three of his buddies gave the loner, nicknamed "Sweet Justice," a bad beating for his misplaced affections. Ominously, the victim's motto was and is, "What goes around comes around!" All four boys died in a terrible car crash before graduation. Paris gets the creeps after watching "Sweet" on the small screen and reminisces about her strange former classmate. He still looks weird to her after all these years so she goes out to Moose Lake to investigate. And man (!!) does she find trouble! This is Detective Murphy's second appearance in a Theresa Monsour police procedural. My introduction to this intelligent, feisty, part Irish, part Lebanese law officer was in "Dark House," the third book in the series. Paris is a more complex character than most female protagonists in this genre. There is more to her than the same old "tough but vulnerable" facade. Not only am I taken with this three-dimensional take charge lady, I also like her husband, (although the marriage is floundering), her family, colleagues, boss and problematic love life. The dialogue is realistic, the plot is gritty, fast paced, dark and very creepy. Ms. Monsour, an award-winning journalist for a St. Paul newspaper, gives us a vivid look inside the head of a totally wacko individual, a serial killer - and the view is chilling. The writing is quite good! What's not to like?? JANA

cold blood

A frightening book from a talented author, this one follows Det. Paris Murphy following her instincts on a man who continues to help police with a series of murders, and she starts to suspect he may be the killer. I highly recommend this author and look forward to reading more of her books.

Excellent, Creepy Crime Thriller

I read a bunch of books over Memorial Day weekend,including Monsour's second Paris Murphy novel. I'mnot sure why I never read the first, but I will haveto go back and correct that mistake. Wow! _Cold Blood_was a great book.A bridesmaid has disappeared while walking home from thereception in Moose Lake, Minnesota. A few days later,during a search of the area, Justice Trip, a travelingsalesman who has volunteered to help, stumbles acrossa finger, which proves to be that of the missing woman.He briefly becomes a minor celebrity when it is discoveredhe's had similar luck before, finding the necklace of amissing girl in a rural area of Wisconsin, just before thegirl herself was discovered, alive and well. This time,things don't look as hopeful for the missing woman.Paris Murphy, a homicide detective in St. Paul, sees thenews coverage and recognizes Trip as a high school classmate,one who'd been picked on and mistreated in high school andsomeone who'd once asked her to a homecoming dance. She stillfeels bad that her old boyfriend and some of his friends hadbeaten Trip up as a result. Since there's a St. Paul link tothe disappearance--the woman's estranged husband lives nearby--Murphy becomes involved in the case and can't shake her suspicionthat Trip might know more about what happened than he's lettingon.Monsour does a great job of capturing the Minnesota locationsand just a general feel for the people and the atmosphere of bothsmall town and big city Minnesota. Murphy is a great character,the daughter of a Lebanese mother and an Irish father, and one ofa large group of children. She has her own personal problems--herrelationship with her separated husband doesn't seem to be improving,no matter what she tries, and the man she's had an affair with recentlyis pushing her too hard to make their relationship something more.And she can't help but feel some sort of attraction to her boss inhomicide, a former undercover cop who is something of a legend in thedepartment.Monsour also does a nice job with the villain in the book. We almost,not quite, but almost, feel sorry for him. He's someone we can sympathizewith, though the reasons for his actions escape explanation, even at theend. There are some gruesome passages in the book, so if you aren't upto some blood and gore in your mysteries, you might want to skip thisone, but all in all, I was very pleasantly surprised. I'm going to checkout _Clean Cut_, the first novel in this series, right away.

Another winner! Highly recommend this series.

I am very hard to please. I have recently switched genres and almost read thrillers/mysteries exclusively. It is hard to find these type of books written by a woman where the lead character is female. Theresa Monsour's second book, Cold Blood continues the story of police detective Paris Murphy. Paris has flaws, which I love. This book was well written, thrilling and creepy. I especially like the fact that Paris's non-work life is so detailed. Ms. Monsour really delves into Paris's private life with her ex-husband, boyfriend and other co-workers. It really works too. I highly recommend this book and her first one, Clean Cut. You will not be disappointed. Finally, a smart, witty, sexy female detective.

powerful police procedural

He was the one everyone picked on in school. He had no friends everyone in school picked on him. He had the nerve to ask one of the popular girls to a school dance. Her boyfriend and three of his jock pals beat him to a bloody pulp. He swore he would get even one day.Paris Murphy, the girl he asked out, is now a St. Paul Homicide detective. She sees Justice Trip on television searching for a woman who has gone missing after walking out of a wedding reception. Justice is the one who found the missing woman?s pinkie as he joins in the search party but something about his demeanor doesn?t set right with Paris. He plays the hero giving out false information to a reporter making her wonder if he had anything to do with the killing. When the body is found in a park, Justice is also there. As Paris researches the crime, she comes upon some interesting facts that make her think that Justice is a serial killer. Now all she has to do is find some evidence to back up her supposition.Told from the point of view of the heroine and the antagonist reader knows at all times what is going on in their heads and can predict what their next move will be. This is only Theresa Monsour?s second book but with her complex characterizations and tight and complex storylines, it is easy to see that she is going to be one of the new stars in the crime thriller galaxy. COLD BLOOD is a powerful tour-de force, a police procedural that takes the reader into the investigation from start to finish.Harriet Klausner