Being an avid fan of mystery novels, I plunged into the plot twists, red herrings, and sinister setting of Murder Plus Five with gusto.

Audrey Canning's father, William, has been investigating the theft of his secret formula for flame retardant material, and is on his way back from meeting a private eye in Chicago. When the plane ostensibly carrying him crashes into a mountain, Audrey and her father's business partner fly out to the mountain to find him. Once there, they find themselves in a morass of suspicion. Five different people have five different combinations to the vault in which the formula is kept, and only one will unlock the door. Each claims to be innocent, but one of them has to be the thief. More disturbing are suggestions of sabotage and the notion that her father was not in the plane at all. Drawn into playing William Canning's game, they must go to California to flush out the thief.

An intriguing premise is set up here in the theft of the formula and the strategies designed to reveal the thief. There is also some intrigue between Brad, Jack, and Audrey, as both men appear to take a liking to her. This confused me in parts, because I was unsure whom I should be thinking of as "The Hero" in the romantic subplot. The casting of the hero is subtleÑso subtle that until Jack asks Audrey to dinner, there's nothing between them, not even the hint of sexual awareness or chemistry.

Murder Plus Five does focus heavily on the plot, with the characters and the romance playing secondary roles. It is, however, an interesting suspense, and the plot twists and turns around each suspect, keeping you guessing until the end.

I loved the story itself, but I am sad to confess that I didn't love the way that it was written. While there are readers out there that enjoy a lot of description that doesnÕt push the plot forward, I'm not one of them. I like a mystery that maintains pace, and although the descriptions are really quite lovely, I found my attention waning as she described inert things such as the beauty of the mountains and feeding the squirrel. I started reading excited by the premise, but my enthusiasm dropped away with the excess description. In another genre this might not be such a problem, but mysteries rely on tension and action to drive the plot and swing the reader breathlessly along with it, and it pains me to say that Murder Plus Five just doesn't swing.

For the most part, despite the description and lack of tension, it is a smooth read. Occasionally, however, words were used inappropriately, and harsh words such as "she screamed" startled me in situations where there had been no tension buildup. I feel that this undermined the quality of the writing. It also resulted in the characters feeling wooden and two-dimensional.

Ultimately, as a reader I felt like Ms Ross had written an outline of the events in the story, and had forgotten to fill in the details such as emotions, gestures, and feelings. Although the plot was inspired, Murder Plus Five left me with the feeling that, if it had been finished, it would have been a really great story.

Reviewed By: Melinda Stanners
© November 2004