Murder at the Pentagon (Capital Crimes Series #11)

by Margaret Truman

Overview

"Margaret Truman has become a first-rate mystery writer."
LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK REVIEW
When a genius doctor is murdered and a desert madman gains the means to kill millions, Major Margit Falk, a helicopter pilot and Pentagon lawyer, is drawn into Project Safekeep—an antimissile scheme under congressional investigation. The alleged murderer has his share of secrets, but Falk smells conspiracy in the air. And although she turns to her mentor, law professor Mackenzie Smith for help, she's got to beat a cunning madman and a nuclear blast....
An Alternate Selection of the Literary Guild

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780449219409
Publisher:	Random House Publishing Group
Publication date:	05/01/1994
Series:	Capital Crimes Series , #11
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	185,579
Product dimensions:	4.25(w) x 7.00(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Margaret Truman won faithful readers with her works of biography and fiction, particularly her ongoing series of Capital Crimes mysteries. Her novels let us into the corridors of power and privilege, and poverty and pageantry, in the nation’s capital. She was the author of many nonfiction books, including The President’s House, in which she shares some of the secrets and history of the White House where she once resided. Truman lived in Manhattan and passed away in 2008.

Editorial Reviews

In characteristic unadorned and bloodless prose Truman ( Murder at the National Cathedral ) delivers this formulaic mystery bound in conspiracy, the 11th in her series of capital crimes. Air Force helicopter pilot and lawyer Major Margit Falk is assigned the defense of Robert Cobol, a CIA officer charged with the murder of Dr. Richard Joycelen. The victim, deputy director of a defense research project devoted to small nuclear devices, was shot inside the Pentagon, purportedly the most secure building in the world. While Margit works up Cobol's defense with the help of mentor Mackensiesic Smith, who has featured in earlier Truman mysteries, world powers adjust to the nuclear capability recently exhibited by a small Arab nation. Margit's boyfriend, Jeff Foxboro, is helping his boss, the senator who heads the committee investigating how the country's despotic leader got the bomb. Not surprisingly, the murder and the bomb are linked, a connection Margit must sacrifice her career to prove. Guidebook descriptions of Washington sights and lengthy discussions of federal agencies and departments provide copious background, but this simplistic tale generates little suspense. Literary Guild selection. (May)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

The latest entry in Truman's uneven but immensely popular series of D.C. mysteries starts with an unusually strong situation: Air Force J.D./chopper pilot Major Margit Falk is assigned over her protests to defend Sgt. Robert Cobol on a charge of killing weapons-researcher Dr. Richard Joycelyn. Even as Margit, with the help of her old mentor Mackensie Smith, reluctantly digs into allegations of a homosexual relationship between the two, we already know, from a series of dire hints, that the murder was really triggered by an unnamed Middle Eastern tyrant's acquisition of a nuclear bomb. Once Cobol's found dead in his cell, the only question left is how high the coverup reaches. The anemic mystery is partly redeemed by an engaging heroine and the usual inside dope about how many miles of telephone cable are inside the Pentagon. (Literary Guild Split Dual Selection for July)

Kirkus Reviews