Close to a Killer

Qualey, M. (1999). Close to a killer. New York, NY: Delacorte Press.

Plot summary: Seventeen-year-old Barrie Dupre is not happy to be living with her mother again, especially in Dakota City proper rather than the lovely suburbs, but when her father and stepmother move to Paris for a year, she has no choice. Now Barrie is stuck living with Daria, the ex-convict who spent seven years in prison for accidentally killing a man with a car bomb, and working in Daria’s salon, Killer Looks. With no friends other than her mother’s ex-con employees, Barrie spends the majority of her time writing in coffee shops and hanging out at An Open Book, a used bookstore run by the friendly Eric and Willa. When two people connected with Killer Looks are murdered, Barrie at first believes that it is a coincidence. But as a third murder takes place and Barrie and Daria’s home is ransacked, the police—and Barrie—begin to suspect that the murders have something to do with the salon. Now Barrie does not know who to trust or where to turn, as her sense of security gradually crumbles when the intruder re-appears, her mother’s salon is set on fire, and a suspicious clerk at An Open Book is attacked and left to be run over by a train. As Barrie tries to gather clues and work with the police, she also has to find a way to reconnect with her mother, who needs her more than ever. Things finally come to a head during one of Barrie’s visits to An Open Book, when she realizes that kindly old Eric is the murderer—and he tries to frame her for his own suicide. Although the police believe her story, Barrie is left to deal with the residual guilt and terror of her experiences.

Genre: Mystery

Suggested age range: 13 and up

Annotation: Marcia Qualey has written a very engaging whodunit in Close to a Killer, crafting the plot and her characters so carefully that readers will be just as unsure as Barrie about the identity of the killer and will not want to put the book down until they have figured it out. Barrie’s sarcasm and the dry humor of many of the characters help to temper the intensity of the story; Close to a Killer is a very adult mystery, in terms of both its themes and its chilling end. It deals with such mature issues as murder, prison, rape, drug abuse, runaways, guilt, and regret, and while the ending does resolve the mystery, it does not offer a total return to happiness and normalcy for Barrie—realistic, but not appropriate for younger tweens. Readers will appreciate the entertaining subplots and bits of life wisdom dispersed by adults throughout the story, which also serve as distractions that hide the identity of the killer until the tail end of the novel. Qualey’s readers might also benefit from having a chance to discuss the novel after completing it, giving them the opportunity to further explore some of its heavily affective themes.

Subjects/themes: Mystery, Murder/crime, Prison, Guilt, Regret, Family, Urban life.

Awards:

• 2002 Black-Eyed Susan Book Award (Nominated)

Reviews:

• Booklist (February 1, 1999)
• Kirkus Reviews (December 1, 1998)
• School Library Journal (March 1, 1999)

Character list:

• Barrie Dupre – A 17-year-old girl living with her ex-convict mother; she works in her mother’s salon, frequents An Open Book (a used book shop), and enjoys writing death-related stories based on old photographs.
• Daria – Barrie’s mother and owner of the Killer Looks salon; she was in prison for seven years for setting off a car bomb at a protest, killing a man.
• Crystal, Cyndy, and TaNeece – Three other ex-convicts who are friends with Daria; they all work at Killer Looks.
• Dean – A 20-something friend of Barrie’s; he is a clerk at An Open Book and also works at a local shelter for runaways.
• Wylie – An 18-year-old former drug addict; he is a clerk at An Open Book and is also connected with the shelter.
• Willa and Eric – An old married couple; they own An Open Book, and Eric takes frequent book-hunting trips.
• Pastor Nan – A minister who runs the runaway shelter.
• Lieutenant Henley – A kind police officer assigned to the murder cases.

High-interest annotation: Barrie finds herself tangled in a deepening mystery when two people she knows are killed and her house is ransacked; she has to help the police discover who has been murdering people and tormenting her and her ex-convict mother before things get even worse.