GIRL MOST LIKELY

I've read a ton of books so far during this unprecedented year of 2020. But I haven't reviewed many of them here on the ol' blog. Chalk that up to laziness on my part. So, let's do something about that right now.

Max Allan Collins is one of my all-time favorite mystery writers. Don't believe me? According to my Goodreads page (https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/8553032?ref=nav_mybooks) I've read 23 Collins books so far and I'm starting my 24th one today. So, yeah, I like this guy and the books he writes. While some are better than others, I've yet to read a Collins novel that I didn't like.

My buddy Jon Levesque, whom I worked with at Barnes & Noble for many years, knows about my appreciation and admiration for Collins. When he and his lovely fiancé Jeanine attended Bouchercon in Dallas last year, Max Allan Collins was one of the featured authors. Jon was kind enough to get Mr. Collins to sign a copy of the book pictured above for me. It was an extremely thoughtful gesture and I really appreciate it.

By the way, I recall rubbing shoulders with both Collins and Lawrence Block (another one of my faves) at a Mystery Convention in Austin back in the early '90s. I had a press pass (I was freelancing for THE WEST AUSTIN NEWS at the time) and I spent the afternoon combing the dealer's room for vintage John D. MacDonald (my hands down all-time favorite crime writer)  paperbacks. So were Collins and Block! We exchanged pleasantries but at the time, I had yet to read anything by either author so I didn't take the opportunity to get something signed.

GIRL MOST LIKELY (Thomas & Mercer 2019) is a good old fashioned murder mystery that also serves as a starting point for yet another Collins produced series. The star here is twenty-eight-year old Krista Larson, the Chief of Police in Galena, Illinois. She worked her way up through the ranks and does an admirable job of fighting what little crime there is in the riverside community. 

Her ten-year high school reunion is coming up and all of the chatter is about the appearance of the stunning Astrid Lund, a classmate who has become a television reporter in Chicago. The breathtaking beauty had several flings with some of the boys in the class but someone she fooled around with wants her dead. 

Another female classmate is murdered in the opening chapter of the book in a narrative that is told from the killer's point of view. Collins does a good job of never giving away anything that would identify the killer's age or sex. 

The reunion takes place with Astrid in attendance. When she's murdered at her parent's home after the reunion, Chief Larson realizes she's got a serial killer on her hands. She calls in her retired police detective dad, Keith, to serve as a consultant and together the father and daughter team of sleuths start putting the pieces together in a riveting whodunit.

 Collins knows how to tell a traditional murder mystery right down to assembling all of the suspects (of which there are plenty along with some juicy red herrings) at the lodge where the reunion takes place. Another young woman is killed (making the body count three) before things come to a climax with a nighttime chase and confrontation with the killer in the snowy woods.

If I could make a movie out of this material and cast any actors living or dead in the leads, I'd get a young Diane Lane to play Krista and Brian Dennehy to play her father. 

 

I thoroughly enjoyed GIRL MOST LIKELY even though I didn't guess the identity of the killer. Collins plays fair throughout and I'd gladly read another adventure of Krista and Keith Larson.

Thanks Mr. Collins. And thanks Jon. I appreciate both of you.