Edna Buchanan

Margin of Error

Christina says:

This review is based upon the German translation by Cécile G. Lecaux.

Police journalist Britt Montero is given an assignment she doesn't like very much at first: she has to show movie star Lance Westfell, who is making a movie in Miami, what the every-day life of a reporter is like. The problem is that you can't do that if you are with a man like him. Wherever they appear, all women are at his feet; even the police and terrifying juvenile gangs succumb to his charm. After a while, Britt does so, too, but she also gets to know the dark side of his life. For instance, there is his crazy fan Stephanie who believes she is his fiancée. Is she just a harmless if annoying nutter or a real threat?

Pulitzer price winning journalist Edna Buchanan knows what she is talking about when she sends her heroine Britt Montero out into the streets of Miami. On each page you feel her attachment to and precise knowledge of this city, and the critical eye she has on her colleagues turns her books into a very special experience for her readers. In Margin of Error she also investigates the odd effect Hollywood stars have on ordinary people. As usual she does it with mild sarcasm, avoiding biting satire.

In this fifth instalment of the series, Britt turns out once more to be a three-dimensional character. The events of the previous books didn't leave her unaffected, nor is she too cool to be attracted by the superstar. Because of her new friends, her old pals at the editorial department sadly have to take a backseat.

A motto every journalist should take to heart runs like a thread through the book: each story has two sides, something Britt learns not only while she is doing her work, but also while dealing with Lance Westfell.

With Margin of Error Buchanan successfully continues her series.

Any comments? Write us:

Christina

Last changes: 12-10-03

Copyright 2003 Books & Movies