About the Book
In the world of newspapers, the morgue is the place - usually somewhere in the bowels of the building - where old story clippings are filed away. Dolly Madison Sprowls has been in charge of The Hannawa Herald-Union's morgue for more than 40 years. She is gruff and salty, well past the age of retirement, and the unchallenged queen of her ink-stained domain. Reporters call her Morgue Mama - but only behind her back.
Maddy's well-ordered world is turned upside-down when the paper hires 24-year-old Aubrey McGinty for its police beat. Aubrey loses no time in questioning the conviction of Sissy James for the murder of TV evangelist Buddy Wing. Sissy had confessed live on television, and the evidence seems overwhelming, but the ambitious young reporter doesn't believe she did it. But why did Sissy embrace guilt? Aubrey enlists Maddy's help and together they begin a harrowing search for the truth. Digging into the files, they soon - dangerously - uncover enough suspects to fill a studio with those who do the devil's work.
About the Author :
C.R. Corwin is the pseudonym of Rob Levandoski, a former newspaper reporter in Akron, Ohio. During his career in journalism, he covered police and schools, wrote for the entertainment department, and snapped pictures for the Medina County Gazette. He later worked in public relations, edited political science textbooks, wrote book reviews for The [Cleveland] Plain Dealer and taught writing courses at the University of Akron. He died unexpectedly in 2008 at age 59.
Review :
In Corwin's witty and engaging caper, the start of a new series, newspaper archivist Dolly Madison Sprowls, called Morgue Mama 'behind her back,' and a determined cub reporter, Aubrey McGinty, team up to investigate the poisoning of TV evangelist Buddy Wing at the Heaven Bound Cathedral in 'the Hallelujah city' of Hannawa, Ohio. Part satire and part social commentary, the story is far from a standard whodunit, since Aubrey, rather than finding the culprit, seems bent only on clearing the name of convict Sissy James, the badly abused ex-girlfriend of a rival preacher. The irrepressible, 67-rear-old Maddy (as she prefers to be called), a lonely divorcee clinging to her post as manager of the Hannawa Herald-Union's morgue, helps Aubrey search the newspaper's records, which yield a multitude of suspects, some amusing and some tragic, but each adding an intriguing dimension to the ever more complex case. Small town politics and office love affairs entangle almost everyone except Maddy, whose existence before now has revolved around filing news articles in steel cabinets for brash reporters to paw through. Her matchup with Aubrey brings her and the reader genuine excitement right through the stunning conclusion to this lively adventure.
An ambitious young Ohio crime reporter teams up with the wise old curmudgeon heading up the newspaper's morgue. Dolly Madison Sprowls, 67, thinks she'll be teaching newcomer Aubrey McGinty, 24, a thing or two about proper Hannawa Herald-Union procedure when she comes looking for file clips on the Buddy Wing murder. But Aubrey immediately convinces the acerbic Morgue Mama to help her prove the televangelist wasn't poisoned by Sissy James, even though she confessed. High on their list of new suspects are Tom Bandicoot, Sissy's lover and the former assistant pastor at the Heaven Bound Cathedral until Buddy cast him out, forcing him to start up the rival New Day Epiphany Temple; his wife, Annie, desperate to have him reclaim his former eminence; Guthrie Gates, the new golden boy at Heaven Bound; disgruntled parishioner Wayne F. Dillow, whose wife died despite healing sessions with Buddy; several Kent State students working at the Cathedral as part-time interns; and Elaine Albert, who's responsible for getting the reverend's sermons on the air. Verbally abrasive Dolly and seductively manipulative Aubrey are soon offending town nabobs, cops, managing editors, rival reporters, and each other before newcomer Corwin throws in a couple of twists...That's unfortunate, because the wry handling of the irrepressible Dolly, and her takes on aging, youth in heat, and diner specials, are very appealing indeed.
A bell ringer of a crime novel. Everything about the setting rings absolutely true, and the plot is great.
Retirement-aged but still formidable newspaper librarian Dolly Madison Sprowls teams up with youthful police reporter Aubrey McGinty to investigate a recent murder case. The woman convicted of poisoning a local televangelist appears to have been framed, even though she confessed to the crime. After digging through the newspaper morgue, Dolly and Aubrey question staff at the evangelist's church, reconstruct the crime, and come up with plenty of other suspects. Meanwhile, Aubrey looks into police corruption and the murder of a prostitute. Serviceable prose, knotty characters, and major unexpected plot twists should endear this first novel to most readers.
