Review by Bluecobia -- The 11.05 Murders by Brian O'Hare

[Bluecobia]

[Following is a volunteer review of "The 11.05 Murders" by Brian O'Hare.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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The book, The 11:05 Murders by Brian O’Hare, is well worth taking the time to read. The author does a good job of slowly building on the background and personality of the various individuals working on the case and the potential suspects. There is good interplay between the various people and potential for growth and involvement in future books.

The story starts out with a cold and calculating man and the brutal rape of a woman. The scene then shifts to a brutal murder of a man many years later. As the police work to find the murderer, clues and hints show possible connections between the two incidents. However, this is only one of several directions the investigation proceeds. There are several current motives and suspects that show current direct connections to the case. The author does a good job of providing clues, coincidences, and red herrings that will keep you guessing throughout the book.

This story is not only about the murders but also about the people involved in solving the crime. One of the prime characters is Woman Detective Sargent Denise Stewart. She has just been promoted to Detective and moved to the Serious Crimes Division after seeing problems at her former police station and helping to put her boss in jail for illegal activities. This caused a lot of friction with her former coworkers and is baggage that follows her to her new job.

The Serious Crimes Division is a much better environment for her. The other detectives and supervisor (Inspector Sheehan) are much more supportive and quickly make her part of their team. Two men come to vie for attention as potential love interests: One a detective, Tom Allen, who works with her in the Serious Crimes Division and the other a prominent lawyer, Robert Turner.

I would give this book a rating of three out of four stars. There was some English / Irish slang that I was unfamiliar with, since I am an American, but not enough to inhibit my understanding of what was going on in the story. The author does a good job of spreading clues to the murder’s identity and motive through out the book. I like this much better than having a lead character spring a bunch of new information on the reader right at the end of the book. Not having access to this information earlier makes it impossible for the reader to find the killer before the end. However some of the clues were a little too obvious. I identified the killer about two thirds of the way through the book and I am not that good of a detective most of the time. In spite of that I did not understand the full motivation until Inspector Sheehan explained it to me at the end. The 11:05 Murders by Brian O’Hare has put Mr. O’Hare’s name on my list of authors to look for when I want a good mystery to read.

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The 11.05 Murders
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[Snowflake]

Nice review. This sounds like a mystery worth reading. I will have to add it to my list of books to read....

[readandsmile]

You have a good review. Cool ! But I hate violence, I can't dare to read this book. This book does not suit my appetite.

[Bluecobia]

I don't like the violence either but it was a basic part of the story.

[readandsmile]

You right! hope so that violence in our generation today will be minimize. Even if it is only a story, it happens in reality. The sad part of life but We still have hope in God alone.

[Bluecobia]

You right! hope so that violence in our generation today will be minimize. Even if it is only a story, it happens in reality. The sad part of life but We still have hope in God alone.

I agree with you. Thank you for your comments.

[Mallory Whitaker]

Great review! I agree with you, some of the clues were a bit too obvious, but at the same time, I felt like they were employed to point in the wrong direction too. Like I'd be sure someone had done X because of something they said or did and then nope, it was just a red herring.

[Bluecobia]

Great review! I agree with you, some of the clues were a bit too obvious, but at the same time, I felt like they were employed to point in the wrong direction too. Like I'd be sure someone had done X because of something they said or did and then nope, it was just a red herring.

Yes, red herrings were present in abundance. Thanks for your comments.