Name Games
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3.7 • 3 Ratings
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- $6.99
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
Journalist Mark Manning delves into the bizarre world of miniatures . . . and finds a king-sized case of murder
Front-page news in the quiet town of Dumont, Wisconsin, where former Chicago reporter Mark Manning runs the town’s Daily Register, involves the annual exhibition of the Midwest Miniatures Society and new zoning laws for an adult bookstore. But murder becomes the headline when “King of Miniatures” Carrol Cantrell, the nation’s foremost expert, is found strangled in the guesthouse of a local shop owner. It seems Cantrell was leading a double life. He was having an affair with Doug Pierce, Dumont’s closeted sheriff and a good friend of Manning’s. With a blackmail note pointing to his guilt, Pierce soon becomes the prime suspect. Enlisting the help of colleagues, friends, and his lover, Neil, Manning races to clear Pierce’s name . . . and finds himself enmeshed in the seething rivalries and vicious back-stabbing that characterize the cutthroat worlds of miniatures and pornography. With suspects ranging from a gay-bashing feminist to a renowned French craftsman of miniatures, Manning unearths a hotbed of damning secrets someone has killed—and could kill again—to keep. Name Games is the fourth book in Michael Craft’s Mark Manning series, which begins with Flight Dreams and Eye Contact.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
When the "king of miniatures," Carrol Cantrell, is strangled to death before the opening of a dollhouse craft show in Dumont, Wis., journalist Mark Manning discovers that his sleepy town is packed with suspects in this melodramatic gay cozy. A scarf at the murder scene points to Cantrell's arch rival, who vowed to topple his foe, but was conveniently out of town the night of the murder. A blackmail note on a laptop points to the closeted sheriff, who was sleeping with the victim. That Cantrell was also an expert defense witness in several pornography cases makes his early demise fortunate for the odd team of the local DA and an antisex feminist, who are trying to rid the town of its sole porn store. And what about the respected town elder whose car was spotted outside that same porn shop? Although this is the fourth Manning mystery, the evolving characters of the hero's architect partner, Neil, and their teenage ward, Thad, are still underdeveloped. But at least they're sympathetic, unlike "feminazi" Miriam Westerman, a villainess so hissably over-the-top one marvels at Craft's restraint in not throwing in flying monkeys. And what feminist would create an organization with the acronym FSNACH? Manning's primness--he only has homoerotic thoughts only while asleep--also strains credulity. Craft's habit of recapping the action every time a new character enters the plot may irritate seasoned mystery readers, who are bound to have guessed the killer's identity long before Manning gathers together all the suspects for one last recap.
