Arts »Book Review: ‘Mission Canyon’ Takes Many Twists and Turns

Book Review: ‘Mission Canyon’ Takes Many Twists and Turns

By Carol Ann Chybowski, Noozhawk Contributor | Posted on 10/27/2008

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The third in a series about detective Evan Delaney has enough originality to keep mystery lovers guessing.

Detective Evan Delaney is back in her third appearance, a follow up to the novels Cross Cut and China Lake, and the action in Mission Canyon is enough to convince anyone that life with Evan will never be dull.

Though Evan has given up her law career in favor of writing, the story opens with her attempting to serve a court summons on a prominent Santa Barbara citizen at, of all places, a Halloween bash at the Museum of Art. The attempt is a disaster, and the reappearance of an old nemesis, Franklin Brand, the man who ran down two bicyclists on Mission Canyon, makes matters worse. One of the cyclists was killed. The other, Evan’s fiancé Jesse, was paralyzed.

When Evan and Jesse set out to capture Brand and bring him to justice, they quickly find themselves in over their heads, fighting for their own survival.

As Evan and Jesse untangle the web of cyber-crime in the computer business, the arrow of suspicion swings from one corporate hotshot to another and back again. Though some of the plot points can be considered standard detective fare, there is more than enough originality in Mission Canyon to keep even the most jaundiced mystery reader guessing.

The chase scene on the roof of the church, where Evan flees from her enemies with a toddler in her arms, is not to be missed, and the final chase has more twists and turns to it than the actual Mission Canyon road.

Mission Canyon is a fast-paced entertaining read. Evan and Jesse are real, believable people that readers will want to revisit in Gardiner’s other Evan Delaney mysteries, Jericho Point and Kill Chain.

» Mission Canyon

» By Meg Gardiner

» Penguin Group USA

» July 2008

» Paperback, 352 pages

» ISBN: 9780451224729

Carol Ann Chybowski, who received a bachelor’s degree in linguistics from UCSB, is an aspiring author with short stories in the local anthologies A Community of Voices. The former Santa Barbara resident resides in Southern California.

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