A Review of "Taken for Granted" by Leslyn Amthor Spinelli

I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is always interesting in reading mystery fiction written by a woman. Especially someone as experienced in the criminal justice system as Mrs. Spinelli. I particularly enjoyed how a hard headed judge blew up the plea deals the various lawyers conspired with to make their lives easier. It rang true.

Authors write about what they know. Mrs. Spinelli knows a lot about a lot of stuff. She knows about the law and the criminal justice system. The parole system and the effect it can have on sentencing. The problems of juggling a family with a professional life. The issues of child care for a working mom. The pain of infertility and the joys and sorrows of the adoption process.  Lots of stuff.

One of the more interesting things to me is the depiction of the friendship of two women. Of course it went to shit because women can never get along and boy did that ring true. That is a key difference with male mystery writers. They almost always write up a male team. Spencer and Hawk. Travis Magee and Meyer. Starsky and Hutch. The Miami Vice homos. Even going back to Holmes and Watson. It is always two guys.  The only female team we really have is Cagney and Lacey and they don't count because they were carpet munchers. Here we had one woman Caroline Spencer who had to carry the weight basically by herself without a faithful Indian companion. Her husband was supportive but did not play a big role. Which brings me to my one slight criticism of the book.

 Most male mystery writers make a big mistake in making their protagonists Superman. Look at Robert B. Parker's Spenser. He is a boxer who can beat up three thugs at a time, a gourmet cook, a poetry spouting intellectual and a witty wiseacre. He has his flaws but he is too much the Superman.
Mrs. Spinelli does not make that mistake. Her Caroline Spencer is all too human. She gets angry and makes mistakes. She has anxiety issues and insecurities and human foibles that are so familiar to us and make a real full blooded human being on the page. The problem is with her husband. He is just too perfect. Too understanding. A Navy Seal for crying out loud. The only thing that I would have done differently was to add a dose of asshole to the mix. Nobody is that kind and understanding. If you want a good example of two well rounded and believable married people I would point you to the books of Robert Tannenbaum who records the exploits of Marlene Ciampi and her husband DA Butch Karp. Also I would highly recommend the Matthew Scudder mysteries by the great Lawrence Block. If you want to see how to have a troubled and  interesting hero just check out the alcoholic Matt Scudder. It is the subsidiary characters in the Scudder books that really give it their flavor. I particularly recommend you read "When the Sacred Gin Mill Closes" as an example of mystery writing at it's finest. So the only small flaw is that the husband is too perfect. But I understand why she did it. She didn't want anybody to think she was writing about Spinelli.

I highly recommend you pick up this book and give it a chance. It is a great read and you will enjoy it. I am sure it will be a great success and would make a great movie.

Congratulations Mrs. Spinelli. You should be very proud.