Liskow, Steve. Who Wrote the Book of Death? Mainly Murder Press, 2010.
Who Wrote the Book of Death? follows its own advice. Two of its three main characters are writers. At various times they discuss or ponder the things that make for good stories. Author Liskow has created a thriller that is a lot fun to read.
The third chief character, private detective Greg Nines, is called in as security for the beautiful romance writer Taliesyn Holroyd. Ms. Holroyd has had two near misses with death as the book begins. Much of the tension in the story comes from the continued threats and attempts on her life.
What complicates the story and the mystery is that Taliesyn Holroyd is the pen name of two writers who collaborate in an unusual way—not unlike Ellery Queen. Neither writer has any enemies as far as they know, and no one is even sure which of the two writers the stalker is after—or if the person thinks one of them is the “real” Ms. Holroyd.
There are some suspects: one writer’s ex-husband, a U. S. senator whose life is being fictionalized in the latest Holroyd novel, and the family of a boy who some think is the senator’s illegitimate son. Everyone seems to have an alibi, and nothing makes sense except that someone wants someone else dead.
Nines works on the security in the house where one writer lives and the other is staying. It is clear the suspect has closely observed the house and its inhabitants’ comings and goings. Attempts on their lives become more frequent—and Nines has to protect his charges but has no idea whodunit or why.
Can Nines success in thwarting the stalker before either writer is killed? Further complicating things is that while Nines has taken all kinds of precautions to set alarms and thwart unwanted entry into the house, it becomes clear that the stalker (or someone hired by the stalker) knows electrical systems and alarms very well.
The mystery stalker is reminiscent of similar thrillers like Mary Higgins Clark’s Daddy’s Little Girl or Frederick Knott’s Wait Until Dark (which is alluded to in the story). It borrows some of the mystery from the Sherlock Holmes story “The Red-Headed League.”
But something else besides the tense plot keeps the story going—the characters. Both writers and the detective are puzzled by who would want to kill one or both of them, but at the same time all three have their secrets. As the story reveals the truth about who they really are, we begin to care more about them. I suspect that many readers will want to read more about Greg Nines and “Taliesyn Holroyd.”
The author has some fun since he is writing about authors. What motivates people to write? Is it to entertain? Is it therapy? Or is it to create a world that somehow magnifies the one we live in? From time to time we get to read some of the writers’ work. It is not as good as Liskow’s own voice, but in all fairness, they are mostly rough drafts. The author has a little fun with an occasional metaphor or simile that echoes Philip Marlowe like “she wears jeans that hug her curves like a lover.” If the writer is having fun, so should the reader.