Instead of words, Woman With a Gun first captured me with a picture, which was very apropos, because that is what first captured one of the main characters. Stacey Kim wants to be a writer, and she finds her storyline while visiting an art museum. Well-known photographer Kathy Moran's most famous painting, "Woman with a Gun," captures her (and my) imagination. The black and white picture shows a woman in a wedding dress standing by the shore. We see only her back and the gun she holds behind it.
Stacey decides to track down the story behind the painting. She finds that the woman in the photo, Megan Cahill, was suspected of killing her husband on their wedding night. The murder was never solved, but Stacey is determined.
The book jumps around a bit, and we find that before she became a photographer, Moran was a disbarred criminal defense lawyer. We also meet Jack Booth, a prosecutor who has a motive to reopen this case. Seeing how all of these characters' stories meld together to bring us a satisfying conclusion makes for an interesting read.
While some parts were slower than Margolin's previous thrillers, it was refreshing to follow a slightly different storyline.
- Beverly
Publisher - Harper
Date of Publication - December 2, 2014