Reporter on the Run: A Lexy Hyatt Mystery

by Carlene Miller and Cleo Qian

A dual over the ownership of her paper has reporter Lexy Hyatt caught right in the middle of a very nasty conflict. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1892281147
• ISBN13: 9781892281142
• Release Date: October 2001
• Publisher: New Victoria Publishers
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.38 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.3" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Miller Hits Her Stride

In Reporter on the Run Carlene Miller fulfills the promise of great writing hinted at in her earlier books. Her strengths -- strong plot, believable characters, and valuable themes -- here come to fruition, making Reporter the best of the Lexy Hyatt series.As usual with Miller, red herrings abound, opening up a plethora of possibilities for pinning down the perp. And yet the variety of potential killers is not spurious; any one of them COULD have done it. The reader roots for first one and then another, figuring "Aha, I've got it!" each time, but when the real culprit is revealed, there is the sense of inevitability needed for a strong plot; this one HAD to be It.To carry out the intricacies of the plot, Miller has created characters that captivate. Welcome returnees, besides Lexy herself, are the invincible Iron Maiden, gentle Wren, and Cop Exline. In addition, new personalities abound, many of whom one hopes to see again, especially the young Kell, a child reminiscent of the best of Martha Grimes. Even the evil characters are convincing in their all too human frailties so that one hopes to see them again also, if only to make sure they get their come-uppance.The less savory characters contribute to the strength of the themes in this book which is very definitely lesbian mystery, but much more. As complex as the orienteering course featured in the story is the path Lexy must navigate among multiple conflicts. Dealing with lesbian prejudice, racial prejudice, chicanery in the banking industry, evil underlying the smiling face of religious fanaticism, even politics -- the reporter is truly on the run.With this third in the series, Miller has definitely reached her stride.

Miller Hits Her Stride

With Reporter on the Run, Carlene Miller has hit the stride that her earlier books gave promise to. Plot, character, and theme, all quite adequate in Cat and Marina, are, respectively, in Reporter wonderfully complex, believably lifelike, and toughly realistic.Always a strong point in Miller's books, the plot in Reporter has as many twists, turns, and side lanes as its featured orienteering course. Red herrings abound and yet are so intricately woven into the reader's search for "whodunnit" that they are not at all extraneous; any one of them COULD have done it.Readers will welcome the return of Lexy Hyatt and her friends from the earlier books, like the crusty Iron Maiden, but will also delight in the new characters that had better become regulars, especially the vulnerably precocious Kell, reminiscent of some of the best of Martha Grimes. Even the evil characters are too real to be stereotypes, unfortunately. Anyone living and awake has met just such people and wished them ill, yet Miller does not make them two-dimensional.Entwined with the plot and characters, the themes of Reporter make it a significant contribution to the lesbian mystery genre. Lexy is more than a lesbian and a sleuth, though these characteristics remain central, as they should. The chicanery in the banking empire, the hypocrisy in fundamentalist cults, and the continual problem of racial injustice are among the realities that conspire to make Lexy's life not a black and white cardboard cutout, not a casual sprint but a marathon. Right up through the solving of who did "dunnit," Reporter on the Run remains a complex, believable, valuable book -- eminently readable.