Marilyn's Mystery Reads

Imagine if you had the power to drain someone’s life force and pass it on to another, more deserving, person.  Would you use it?  And under what circumstances?

Thea and her best friend Ruth are having breakfast in the London flat they share.  As Thea reaches across the table for the box of Cheerios, she accidentally touches Ruth’s hand and receives an electric shock that tells her that Ruth will die that night at 11:44.

The two women go out to a club that evening, and every time Thea bumps into someone on the dance floor, she sees the date and time of their death.  She and Ruth go outside for some air, and suddenly two men near them get into a fight.  One man falls directly into Ruth, and all at once she’s on the ground, not moving.  First Thea touches the man and then Ruth, and a minute later Ruth has revived and the man is dead.  Ruth, of course, knows nothing of this exchange and would have been horrified if she knew.

Then Thea sees Sam, an attorney she met during a summer placement.  He’s a successful attorney, something Thea always dreamed of being, but she failed the bar exam and is working in a low level human resources department for Zara, Ruth’s former lover.  Thea and Sam spend an evening together, and he gives her details about a case he’s working on, one in which Karly, a young unwed mother, is being physically abused by her lover Brendan.

Thea goes to Brendan’s office, they fight, and she, while defending herself, siphons his life force into her body.  A police officer appears and arrests her, charging her with Brendan’s death; Sam enters her cell and gets the charges against her dismissed.  He realizes there’s something out of the ordinary going on, and Thea, somewhat reluctantly, tells him about her supernatural power.  Far from being appalled, he approves of what she did. Not only that, but he has his own idea of what she should do next.

Thus begins the collaboration between Thea and Sam.  He has become outraged at the power of the ultra-wealthy people in society, and he believes that his knowledge of these people, arrogant and disrespectful of anyone lower on the societal or economic scale, means they are unworthy to continue living.  Combining these thoughts with Thea’s recently discovered power is the way, he thinks, to make society a more equitable place.

Although An Ethical Guide to Murder is obviously a fantasy, it brings up a number of thought-provoking questions.  Have some people forfeited their right to live due to their unethical or unlawful behavior?  Who gets to decide who lives and who dies?  Does one evil act mean that person is irredeemably lost, or can someone turn their life around and do something to make up for the previous act?  And how “good” must the person be who decides who will live and who will die?

Jenny Morris has written a mystery that asks a number of fascinating questions, questions that may have different answers depending on who answers them.  Thea is a captivating protagonist, a young woman with an unanswered question of her own that influences every thought she has.  Her response to that question may be different from yours, but is it wrong?

You can read more about the author at various sites on the web.

Check out the complete Marilyn’s Mystery Reads at her website.  In addition to book review posts, there are sections featuring Golden Oldies, Past Masters and Mistresses, and an About Marilyn column that features her opinions about everything to do with mystery novel.