An American Killing
Brilliance Audio, $26.95
Nova, $17.95
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REVIEW BY NAN GOLDBERG
Normally, when I read a book I don't usually feel like inviting its author over for a pajama party. But this one had that effect on me. I'd never read anything by Mary-Ann Tirone Smith before, I'm sorry to say, but I think I've got a crush on her. An American Killing is a murder mystery/thriller, narrated by a true-crime writer clearly based on the real-life crime writer Ann Rule (who, I bet, never figured she'd turn up as the protagonist of a novel). Rule, like the heroine of An American Killing, was a journalist whose longtime office buddy was arrested for a mass murder. In Rule's case the friend and murder suspect was Ted Bundy; in the novel his name is different, but the details of the murders are pretty much the same. The arrest changed Rule's life: at first convinced that a tragic error had been made, she decided to look into the case, and was deeply shaken to discover there'd been no mistake. She became fascinated by the idea that there are people who are evil inside, but who look and act just like you and me. She wrote a book about the Bundy case that became a bestseller and led to a series of true-crime books. Denise Burke's career, in An American Killing, has been identical, up until now. This case investigates a triple murder for which an innocent man is framed. In addition to her professional life, Denise is also married to a key member of the Clinton administration. She's got a complicated history, two teenage kids, a dog, a large house with a dining room in dire need of redecorating, and a summer place in Rhode Island. She manages this female "I-can-have-everything-and-do-it-brilliantly" prototype with humor, a heartwarming lack of efficiency, and exactly the right amount of cynicism. At one point it's got to be either the dining room or the affair with the Rhode Island congressman. She chooses the congressman -- a choice that sets in motion the series of events that frame this book. Engrossing plot aside, there is a sensibility at work here that is clear-eyed, contemporary, and incredibly charismatic. Tirone Smith has written four other novels. Prepare, as I will, to hunt them down and read them. And, Mary-Ann, if you're ever in New Jersey, definitely call. Nan Goldberg is a freelance writer in Hackensack, New Jersey.
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