Three-Ways: A Detectives Seagate and Miner Mystery (Book 4)

Mike Markel continues to hold a grimy mirror to the gutter of humanity with Three-Ways. Within its deftly crafted pages, detectives Karen Seagate and Ryan Miner continue their unlikely alliance (Seagate is an alcoholic, Miner a Mormon) to find the murderer of an English graduate student and instructor who is also a relentless, unapologetic, and generously endowed sex addict.Throughout the story, Markel, an English professor in real life, delightfully skewers the peculiarities of academic life with gusto reminiscent of Richard Russo. Among the shibboleths Markel lances with great humor is the increasing use of adjunct instructors by universities in fruitless attempts to stem the exponential growth college costs. The only thing achieved has been the creation of a new underclass of academia lacking any of the traditional benefits of those who teach.And yet . . .Well, there is just no way to sugar-coat this observation or to apologize for its hard-hearted spirit, but this reader keeps hoping that Detective Seagate will fall off the wagon. Karen Seagate is most compelling when she is at her worst, so I find myself looking forward to a heartless police commander, bad news regarding Seagate’s son, or even an unfortunate and eternally regretful dalliance between Seagate and Miner (shudder)—anything to tip Seagate over the edge and into the hell in which she functions best. (Does this wish make me a bad person?)

I've said it before: Mike Markell's eye for physical detail, his ear for crisp entertaining dialog, his sense of humor--adequately morbid, his willingness to satisfy the reader's appetite for graphic sex, and his ability to pace an engaging storyline so that you are pulled through his books--all this places him well among good company in the crime novel genre.As I have found with his previous three books in the Seagate and Miner mystery series, Markel provides just enough information in the prologue to lead you where the detectives eventually get to. But that increases rather than diffuses the tension the unfolding creates. You are eager to see the detectives use their intellect, discipline, and eye for the finest details to put together what you already suspect, and to catch up with you. There's pleasure in their peeling the layers of the crime and in being transported into the richly detailed environments in which the story takes place. Markel is a generous and patient writer, with respect for both what the reader wants to see and the logic of procedural police work that it takes to solve a crime within the constraints of our legal system.Now, I'm figuring that if a fish could count, it could tally on its fingers the number of reviews I've written that have helped a writer sell a worthy book, or a reader to avoid a bad one. But then, I don't imagine my rants about social and economic justice have ever changed the hearts and minds of our country's growing ranks of plutocrats. So, I know I'm pretty much indulging my own interest in writing this recommendation. That doesn't mean the book doesn't deserve it. You will have a hard time finding a better way to entertain yourself with a book; this is fine summer reading.Oh, and for the legions of readers who have in prior Markel offerings found fault with his lead character's one grammatical handicap, take comfort: she seems to have grasped the nominative case since we last encountered her, if not yet having mastered the nuance of the reflexive objective.Now, back to Infinite Jest, in search of the plot... which I'll probably still be looking for when Markel's fifth volume appears. Hurry, please. Save me from myself.

First of the series which I have read. This particular edition shows a complex detective, Seagate, paired with a seemlingly with-it detective, Miner. While the subject matter regarding the death of the deceased is one of my more uncomfortable topics to read...hate stuff all about sex and junk...I found the book to be very interesting and an enjoyable read. I noticed some remarks regarding foul language. However, I found this book to be mild regarding four-letter words, compared to many I've read recently. Seems to be a trend amongst younger people and authors to feel the need to use sex and foul language. Now, that is covered, let's get down to why I liked the book....there were plenty of twists and suspense as to whodunit. I found the book to be very well written, with minor spelling mistakes (I hate that in a book)...Found the different subplots, domestic violence,dealing with handicapped children, past lives & lies to add to the overall telling of the story. The story is realistic in today's point of view, told with good craftsmanship....would definitely recommend if you do not find a lot of sexual content and foul language a problem.

Karen Seagate doesn’t cut herself much slack: “I should start to feel a little better about myself. Once each blue moon, I get something right.” She says of her partner, Ryan Miner: “He sets the bar so high I just walk under it. Don’t even have to bend.” The crime is committed in the Prologue, described in enough detail to put the reader several steps ahead of the police by narrowing the number of suspects to the number of women who had had sex with the victim that evening. That throws into relief the number of possible permutations the police have to consider when starting from scratch in a murder investigation. We know many of those permutations are wide of the mark, but they don’t, not having read the prologue. Karen makes an observation near the end of the book: “If you’ve never been a cop, you’d be surprised how often you sit at your desk, knowing you don’t understand something but not knowing exactly where you went off track or how to get back on it.” That’s a key sentence. I really enjoy the author’s dry humour. Introducing Robin, the Evidence Technician, Karen tells us: “She frequently changes the color of the streaks in her hair, the only rule being that the color must not appear in nature.” Describing a booth near the back of a Coffee Hut, Karen says it looked “like it was decorated by a couple of eighth-graders with a half hour and a budget of twenty bucks.” Concerning relationships, Karen comments: “It’s not that I think it’s important to be honest in a relationship or anything sensible like that.” Of the murdered victim she says: “I have no idea what – if anything – Austin was in love with, except maybe his own reflection in a pool.” Or how about: “Ryan is quite a bit smarter than me in almost every measurable way, but when it comes to infantile behaviour, he’s not in my league.” Mike Markel is brutally frank about human weakness. “She was way past shallow, vain, thoughtless, and the rest of those other bad things we’d all admit to if we were being honest.” Referring to domestic violence cases, Karen says: “If she’s conscious, she’ll tell me what she did wrong. She bought the wrong kind of ketchup, or she was talking too loud on the phone when he was trying to watch football, or he saw her smile when she ran into the guy from down the street, or some other deadly sin.” He provides readers with plenty of convincing detail to bring his characters and venues to life. He knows a good deal about police procedure and is interestingly familiar with the intricacies of University life. Above all, he writes very well, and I am looking forward to reading the next book in his series.

I personally am enjoying this series of books. I have written reviews on all four books and I will say it again, I love the way that the lead detectives, Seagate and Miner are constantly reviewing the evidence, pulling in the forensics, what they know happened backed up with evidence and what they think happened based on thoughts and theories.I believe that Seagate and Miner compliment each other in that Miner is quite calm whereas Seagate can run off at the deep end and sometimes does the opposite of what she has been told.There is a lot of use of the word 'fu@k' throughout this book, but I thought it was warranted due to the nature of the storyline, so if this word offends you then this is not the book for you.

A decent story, worth a read

Graduate student Austin Sulenka is found strangled, on his bed, naked. But Detectives Seagate and Miner have to first determine was it a suicide, accident or murder. Their investigations expose the lies and secrets of many people. Will this lead to more deaths.A really good enjoyable and interesting well-written mystery, add to this the interplay between the two main characters, this results in a very good read.

Ein männliches Mordopfer, das in einer mehr als eindeutigen Pose auf seinem Bett gefunden wird. Was schon auf den ersten Blick nach einem Verbrechen aus Leidenschaft aussieht, führt Detective Karen Seagate und Detective Ryan Miner vom Police Department der (fiktiven) Kleinstadt Rawlings in ein abstruses Beziehungsgeflecht, in dem es nicht nur um erotische Abhängigkeiten, sondern auch um Charakterschwächen von ansonsten sehr moralisch hochstehenden Persönlichkeiten geht.Flott geschrieben, mit überraschenden Wendungen und den von mir so sehr geschätzten Dialogen zwischen Seagate und Miner. Klare Leseempfehlung!