10th Anniversary by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro

Detective Lindsay Boxer has finally married her long-time boyfriend Joe. But she doesn't even have time for a honeymoon before returning to work and a traumatic case. A fifteen-year-old girl is found lying unconscious in the street, naked but for a cheap plastic raincoat, and haemorrhaging badly after having given birth within the last 36 hours. But the baby is nowhere to be found. Meanwhile Yuki Castellano is trying a case against a woman accused of killing her husband. The evidence is overwhelming and Yuki is certain of winning a conviction. But the accused is a renowned heart surgeon and her attorney specialises in criminal defence of the wealthy. This case might not be a straightforward as Yuki had hoped. Lindsay and Yuki's close friend and fellow member of the Women's Murder Club reporter Cindy Thomas is investigating a terrifying story. Two women have reported recent sexual assaults, but neither can remember anything of the attacks. Are these two incidents linked? Will this be the start of a string of attacks? Cindy is determined to uncover the truth, but her headstrong approach can lead her straight into danger.

And so The Women's Murder Club continues on, book 10 and eventually Lyndsay Boxer makes it down the aisle. It was an auspicious start to Book 10, a glimmer that it might be as good as book 9'but sadly it wasn't to last. The thing about the series is that whilst sometimes Patterson gets it spot on and produces a rip roaring tale, sometimes they sputter and fail.

I have a theory as sharp as any Boxer could produce as to why. I know the novels are entitled Women's Murder Club but it's the club bit that let the poorer books down. In book 10 we seems to have returned to the format of Boxer investigating a central case with the SFPD, Yuki struggling to try a case in court and Cindy investigating something for the paper. This is becoming a little predictable and depends largely on the quality of each of the threads of the story.

In this instance Boxers case is not that exciting and is solved by 60-65% in, Yuki is now coming across as a so,we hat substandard lawyer who seems to always be struggling in court and Cindy's story is picked up and put down more times than a trashy mills & boon. All of the plots seem weak and don't make for as exciting a novel as Patterson usually provides.

It still pulls you through remarkable quickly and I read it in just over a day, zipping through the chapters, but it was still less satisfying to read than some of the other books in the series. Now we know what is going to be a focus in book 11 I'll still be keen to follow Boxer's next chapter but I pray it's not more of the same format. I miss the grizzly gritty cases of the early novels and a real sense of danger.

This was a pretty good story or actually multiple smaller stories stitched together. Lindsay and Joe finally got married and Cindy got engaged. Cindy also almost got herself in big trouble when she nearly became a victim of a rapist she was writing a story about. Lindsay butted heads with Yuki when she became involved in the case Yuki was trying in court. The defense attorney asked Lindsay to look into the case because he was sure someone else killed his clients husband and was going to get off. Yuki needed the win and wasn't willing to back down. Claire helped Lindsay track down a baby of a 15 year old girl that was found lying in the road wearing nothing but a rain coat and in the end they all celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Women's murder club. Lindsay also had a little announcement to share about a new addition to her little family. It was a good book and I'm ready for the next one.

I think I may have to take a long break from the WMC books. This one left me just meh. Lindsay whined and fretted, which is what she does a lot of anymore. Cindy managed to get herself in trouble. Again. Yuki did the whole “I'm right about everything...oh wait maybe not quite about everything” thing. And Claire was on prop duty. None of the 3 major arcs kept me interested. The best one was probably Yuki's court case but that ended up being so convoluted, that I really didn't care how it all worked out.

Meh. The story was ok but it bothers me how these strong confident lawyers and police women just gush when their man walks in, like they were 15 years old. Seems so out of character and plays on male dominance themes. Plus the “sexy” talk is so cheesy. Like this discussion:

“Let's make a baby. “
“Well if it involves sex, I am in”
“It does and he was”

I expected better. It's more like a romance novel then a real mystery.