Jo Dereske

I don't want to turn anyone off of these books because the concept of a librarian who solves crime is great, and most people really like Dereske's mysteries. If I really disliked the books, I wouldn't give them three stars. That being said, Miss Zukas in Death's Shadow is a book I want to like, but can't. I want to like it because Miss Zukas is a librarian, she solves mysteries, and her library is in a fictional town in Washington State. However, I can't drum up any sympathy for Miss Zukas -- she is not a likeable person. She's stuck up, "holier than thou," and overly paranoid. I have read other Miss Zukas books, and the same annoying characteristics are in those, too. In this story, Miss Zukas is working in the evenings in a homeless mission as a punishment for not paying a ticket she thought was unjust. Of course someone is murdered on her first night at the mission, and she butts in to solve the case -- she actually goes to the widow's house to question her, and calls the victim's insurance man to ask him questions -- which he answers! Admittedly, these are quick reads, and not intended for someone who reads more complicated mysteries, but I am a librarian, and a law enforcement analyst, and I live in Washington, so the flaws in these books are hard for me to ignore.… (more)

Miss Zukas Shelves the Evidence is the eighth book in Jo Dereske's Miss Zukas mysteries. As the book opens, her librarian heroine is having trouble deciding what to wear. What ails the normally-decisive Helma Zukas? She's about to meet handsome, divorced Police Chief Wayne Gallant's children. For four years Joseph and Syndi have been only a changing series of pictures on their father's desk to her. The boy is 14 and his sister just turned 13. Helma doesn't have a lot of experience with children. Before they can even show up, her new next-door neighbor needs a favor.

TNT Stone is a former prize fighter. He's flustered because his beloved stepdaughter is crying and he can't stand to see her cry. He feels she needs the comfort of a woman. Mary Lynn Dixon has good reason to cry: her middle-aged husband, Lewis, died that morning. Miss Zukas succeeds in getting her to stop crying, but the arrival of Chief Gallant at TNT's doorway leads the widow to conclude her husband was murdered. Is it the coincidence the police chief assures her it is, or was it murder?

Our first impressions of the young Gallants is not good. Joseph is intent on appearing to be stone faced-cool. His sister is clearly hostile to her father's lady friend.

Cat lovers should be amused by the evidence that Boy Cat Zukas isn't restricting himself to his wicker basket near Helma's balcony, the only place he's allowed to be inside her apartment.… (more)