Sharon McCone (A Walk Through the Fire, McCone & Friends, Both Ends of the Night, etc.) is used to solving problems. She's been doing it for over 20 years in Marcia Muller's pioneering and acclaimed series about the San Francisco PI. And thanks to her extended and occasionally dysfunctional family, she's no stranger to the consequences of revealing the occasional skeleton in the closet. But her latest case is both personal and deeply devastating. After her father dies, Sharon discovers documents that have been hidden for her entire life and they launch her on a voyage of self-discovery. Intent on exploring her own past, Sharon travels from a Shoshone Indian reservation in Montana to a ghost town in northern California, and she becomes involved in a larger story of deceit--and murder.

Writing a series means treading delicately on a high wire between repetition and revelation. Having once created a character who will voyage through two or 10 or 10,000 books, an author must decide what facets of the character's life will reappear as touchstones in each book, what items may be left by the wayside, how the past will inform the present, and how the present will indicate the future. With each new novel, the author reaches out to readers who may be comfortably familiar with the series and to readers who may be discovering it for the first time. There is no shortage of mystery writers whose series are immensely rewarding (think Sara Paretsky or Sue Grafton), but it's a difficult balancing act nonetheless. With Listen to the Silence, Marcia Muller seems to stumble slightly, just enough to leave readers wondering whether a safety net is in order. It's as if the burden of the past becomes too heavy for either character or author to support. Sharon seems a trifle flat, and Muller's integration of family and familiarity seems forced and abrupt. A first-time reader would do well to seek out earlier volumes in the series, but confirmed Muller fans will still relish the intensity with which the novel plunges into deeply unsettling territory. --Kelly Flynn


From Publishers Weekly
Boucher Award-winner Muller is back on form (after last year's somewhat disappointing and atypical A Walk Through Fire) in this latest entry in her deservedly popular series featuring PI Sharon McCone. In a personal twist, McCone has to crack one of her toughest cases yet: the mystery of her own life. Her father's death brings McCone not only sadness but the shocking revelation that she was adopted. The search for her birth parents takes her to a Shoshone reservation in Idaho, where an old man named Elwood Farmer offers cryptic advice. Armed with an old photograph in a buffalo-bone frame, McCone tracks down Saskia Blackhawk, the woman she believes to be her birth mother, only to see her put into a coma by a hit-and-run. Saskia, a lawyer, had been battling with Austin DeCarlo, a developer, over Spirit Lake, an area Modoc Indians consider sacred, but DeCarlo considers ripe for a resort. DeCarlo may be McCone's biological father, which would mean that her father may be trying to kill her mother. Meanwhile, professional troublemaker Jimmy D. Bearpaw seems happy to play on either side of the fence as long as he can make life hard for everybody. McCone must sort out the current legal tangles and ask some tough questions if she's to discover what really happened 40 years agoAand facing some important family truths may be harder than confronting a killer. Although Muller gives a long-ago murder curiously short shrift, she delivers an emotion-packed tale that adds new depth to her heroine. Mystery Guild main selection. (July) Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From School Library Journal
Adult/High School-Sharon McCone is celebrating her colleague's wedding when the phone call comes informing her of her father's death. His final instructions are explicit: Sharon is to be the only one to go through his personal papers. In them, she finds a document confirming her adoption. This comes as a total and devastating surprise to her. Determined to find the identity of her birth parents, she travels from a Shoshone Indian reservation in Montana to a ghost town in California. She discovers deceptions, family intrigues, mysterious land deals, a murder, and has her life threatened more than once. Teens will be fascinated by Sharon's search for her roots, and the ending has a twist that will make them eager to read the earlier McCone mysteries as well.-Katherine Fitch, Rachel Carson Middle School, Fairfax, VACopyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
When Sharon McCone's father dies unexpectedly, she inherits the daunting task of going through boxes of his personal effects. Among them she finds adoption papers with her name on them, a shock to say the least. As she begins to poll her family, more questions than answers emerge. Sharon travels to Montana to talk to distant Shoshone relatives and then to a ghost town and a sacred Indian lake in California. All of this investigating leads to a breach with her mother as well as to old family secrets and a murder; it seems no one wants her to discover the truth. Kathy Garver's narration is serviceable, with good pacing as Sharon's past is slowly revealed. Fans of Muller have a treat in store for them: this story answers many questions concerning the main characters. Recommended for all public libraries.ABarbara Perkins, Irving P.L., TX Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From AudioFile
Private Investigator Sharon McCone undertakes a personal probe in the continuation of this mystery series. While going through her deceased father's papers, McCone discovers documents describing her adoption. Narrator Kathy Garver communicates McCone's journey to her birth parents with gutsy, forthright expression. The remaining characters would have more appeal if they were presented with well-defined personas. Nevertheless, travels to the Northwest to McCone's familial Indian Reservation, the cultural diversity of the characters and settings, and the suspenseful atmosphere of the story retain the listener to the end. B.J.L. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Booklist
Muller's Sharon McCone, one of the mystery genre's pioneer female private investigators, has been solving crimes since 1971. Her new case turns out to be very personal. In the midst of a number of changes in her life, Sharon is celebrating the marriage of her assistant, Rae Kelleher, when she receives a telephone call. Her father has died and left instructions that only she may sort his personal property. What Sharon finds there leads to a search for her roots. The journey takes her to a Shoshone reservation in Montana, to Boise, and to a ghost town in Modoc County, California. Encounters with an environmentalist lawyer, a bigoted developer, and a Native American artist all contribute to what Sharon discovers about her family--revelations that both uncover old secrets and spark new conflicts. As a result, she must assess her relationships with all of her relatives--new and old--and resolve an identity crisis. In the process, there's also a killer to catch. McCone fans will enjoy learning more about their hero, who emerges in the end with new strength and a greater appreciation of family. Those encountering Muller's work for the first time will be inspired to read all 20 of the previous McCone books. Barbara Bibel
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

FROM OUR EDITORS

It really shouldn't have come as such a shock. Two brothers and two sisters alike as peas in a pod, and Sharon McCone always the odd one out. The one who was as dark as her siblings were fair. The one who excelled in school while the others did not. The one whose life was always in order...until now. Because now Sharon McCone knows a secret that is sending her world into a tailspin, a secret that cuts to the heart of her very identity. And now, to get to the truth, she must journey back in time and bring stunning closure to the story of four friends, a shattered love affair-and murder. Only this time, it's personal.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"For Sharon McCone, when one door opens, another shuts. In the midst of celebrating the joyous wedding of friends, she gets word that her father has suddenly died in San Diego. After making the sad journey home to help scatter his ashes, she also learns that her father quested that she, not any of her four brothers and sisters, be the one to sort through his personal effects. In a cardboard carton marked "Legal Papers," McCone will discover why. A highly confidential document, long hidden, soon provokes a violent breach between McCone and her mother and sends McCone searching for the truth kept from her about the past. It's a truth about four friends, a shattered love affair, and a violent murder. It's a truth that no none wants her to find...Now, from a reservation in Montana to locate Shoshone relatives to tracking down other kin at a sacred Indian lake in northern California, McCone will encounter old family secrets and modern disputes, an environmental lawyer in desperate trouble, and a ruthless developed who's a bigot to boot. She will feel a widening reservoir of anger and fear opening up between herself and the people she knows and loves best. And when someone tampers with her car to leave her stranded in a hostile landscape and very much alone in a dark inner place, McCone may face both an identity crisis--and a killer--in a case that cuts close to the bone, transforms her soul, and threatens to send her to the grave."

FROM THE CRITICS

Toby Bromberg - Romantic Times

Marcia Muller tells a powerful tale of a woman's search for identity in Listen to the Silence. This suspenseful tale is an emotional spellbinder that saves its final surprises for the very last pages.

Barnes & Noble Guide to New Fiction

In the midst of a friend's wedding celebration, Sharon McCone gets word of her father's death. While sorting through his personal effects, she discovers a long hidden document that sends her on a search for truth that few hope she finds. "A quick, decent read," said most readers. "Muller's writing is smart, economical, and infused with a wry humor." "Lacking in character development and not as suspenseful as I'd hoped," wrote dissenters. "A good read for fans already familiar with this series - new readers might want to start with an earlier work." "Sharon McCone should get together with Kinsey Millhone and form a kick-butt detective agency!"

Library Journal

When Sharon McCone's father dies unexpectedly, she inherits the daunting task of going through boxes of his personal effects. Among them she finds adoption papers with her name on them, a shock to say the least. As she begins to poll her family, more questions than answers emerge. Sharon travels to Montana to talk to distant Shoshone relatives and then to a ghost town and a sacred Indian lake in California. All of this investigating leads to a breach with her mother as well as to old family secrets and a murder; it seems no one wants her to discover the truth. Kathy Garver's narration is serviceable, with good pacing as Sharon's past is slowly revealed. Fans of Muller have a treat in store for them: this story answers many questions concerning the main characters. Recommended for all public libraries.--Barbara Perkins, Irving P.L., TX Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal

Adult/High School-Sharon McCone is celebrating her colleague's wedding when the phone call comes informing her of her father's death. His final instructions are explicit: Sharon is to be the only one to go through his personal papers. In them, she finds a document confirming her adoption. This comes as a total and devastating surprise to her. Determined to find the identity of her birth parents, she travels from a Shoshone Indian reservation in Montana to a ghost town in California. She discovers deceptions, family intrigues, mysterious land deals, a murder, and has her life threatened more than once. Teens will be fascinated by Sharon's search for her roots, and the ending has a twist that will make them eager to read the earlier McCone mysteries as well.-Katherine Fitch, Rachel Carson Middle School, Fairfax, VA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

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