Homicide My Own by Anne Argula   ISBN: 1-929355-21-1 Price: $16 (trade paperback) * 220 pages      About this book: Homicide My Own resides in that strange and fascinating land between mystery fiction and detective fiction, adjoined with the mystique of philosophy and Native American customs. It’s a story of two slog-bottom cops from Spokane, Washington, who are assigned to what appears to be a routine mission: They’re to go to an Indian reservation on the Northwest coast and pick up a man who’s being held for kidnapping a teenaged girl. Once there, however, one of the cops (given the unusual moniker of “Odd”) becomes obsessed with a decades-old murder, the only unsolved murder in the island’s history, and he really doesn’t want to head back to Spokane until he’s found some resolution. His partner, Quinn, the acid-tongued menopausal wife of a decent and boring pharmacist (and the novel’s narrator) finds Odd’s behavior rather amusing at first, but then finds it to be much more than amusing. In an intriguing character study, Anne Argula has developed a novel that not only forces a reader to keep turning the pages; it goes so far as to force the reader to look at life – and death – in a new and uncharacteristic way. Pick this book up at your own risk. . You may find yourself having lost not only the next few hours but also your sense of confidence in, as one might say, “the world as you know it.” find yourself having lost not only the next few hours but also your sense of confidence in, as one might say, “the world as you know it.”

About the author: Anne Argula was born in the coal regions of Northeast Pennyslvania and now lives in the Pacific Northwest. This is her first novel.

 Reviews:

Library Journal

 Wry humor, straight-talking characters, and shades of the supernatural flavor this cleverly written debut police procedural. Two Spokane cops named Quinn and Odd, a female/male team, drive to an island in the Northwest Indian Territory to pick up a bail-jumper wanted for statutory rape. While there, Odd becomes suddenly psychic after reading about the 30-year-old unsolved murder of an Indian boy and his white girlfriend. Since their bail-jumper is sick, they have just enough time to investigate; and it soon becomes evident that Odd's visions come from the murdered girl. Unlikely coincidences and frank revelations add interest; strongly recommended. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Cops on a routine errand at the edge of the world reopen a decades-old pair of murders. Back in Spokane, systems analyst Charles T. Houser went off the rails big-time, leaving his girlfriend for a potty-mouthed 14-year-old named Stacey and then jumping bail and running off with his nymphet to a far-off Shalish Island casino, where an alert Native American security chief put him under lock and key but couldn't prevent him from attempting suicide. Since Houser's in no condition to travel, Odd Gunderson and his partner Quinn, who've been sent to retrieve him, have no choice but to spend a night or two-just long enough for Odd to become fascinated by the double murder of star-crossed teenage sweethearts Jimmy Coyote and Jeannie Olson 33 years ago. There's no chance Odd and his quirky, reflective, postmenopausal partner could possibly shed new light on such a cold case if it weren't for an unexpected advantage: Odd seems to be channeling the spirit of Jeannie Olson. At least he instinctively knows a lot about her short life that he couldn't possibly know. Is Odd Jeannie reincarnated? And if he is, how will hardheaded narrator Quinn, her temper already frayed by hot flashes, handle the news? A loopy, immensely likable debut that's both less and more than a conventional mystery. One can only imagine the sequel.

Andi Schechter: I Love a Mystery

There is much to recommend this first mystery - and some minor but annoying stuff that drove me slightly meshugah.  Not enough to stop reading, but enough to stop and whine several times.

HOMICIDE MY OWN is a quirky little book but none of that is a put-down; little is GOOD here, truly good because the story is tight and well-done and the author avoids lots of filler and expository lumps.  Much of the story is told in the dialogue, bless her for that, not long descriptive passages.  And it's quirky because it's got some not-quite-of-this-world stuff going on.  At times I was saying, "wait, didn't I see that in that movie?"  And yes I did, but that's not so bad either.  It was a really good movie and this is clearly not a rip-off but bears some similarities and still offers a unique story.  There's some disbelief that's suspended too easily for me but go with it and you'll enjoy yourself.  I was pretty much okay with it until the last nine or so pages, which took a step over the line for me and which just seemed to expect too much from the reader.

The story's sorta straightforward but not for long; two ordinary cops from Spokane (in eastern Washington) are sent to Western Washington, to a little island, where they are to pick up a fugitive, a man in his 30s who's run away with a 14-year-old girl.

Quinn, the narrator, is one of the two ordinary cops. She is such a mess that it's hard to read her narrative at times.  She's depressed, menopausal with a vengeance (uncomfortable and makes sure the reader KNOWS), seems miserable in her life, her marriage and her fairly dead-end job.  She's got a lousy boss, a decent and interesting partner (named Odd, which isn't that unusual in Scandinavian culture, from what I know); in fact he's the real focus of the story and is a sympathetic character.  Quinn also uses annoying little phrases too often (oh, editor, yoo hoo!) and often the words and phrases are incomprehensible and do not translate from whatever language or slang or personal usage she's channeling.  And, well, I hadn't realized the depth of my revulsion but I am simply appalled when people refer to body parts cutely; and in this case, no, it's not a man about his "favorite organ" (thanks to Woody Allen, we all know, the "second favorite" is the heart) but a woman referring to "the twins."  I hated this so very much I almost quit reading the book.  Whoa.

It's nearly impossible for me to buy what happens; not only the weirdness of taking the adult Charlie into custody by stashing him in the cabin the two cops share, but keeping Stacey and her mother close by - I don't know how many rules, regulations or guidelines of police conduct got smashed up here.  The shadow over all this is an earlier murder that took place on this same small island.  Odd feels an intense connection to it, and he's determined to stay and solve it.  How and why is the "nearly impossible" part, but I'll leave that to the reader to determine.  Just know that it involves heavy duty woo-woo (that is, paranormal beliefs) which challenge the credibility here.

The author's quite talented, though; she kept me reading, even though my woo-woo tolerance is pretty non-existent.  I do make exceptions though and because it often seemed farfetched and because Argula pushed the limits, she got my attention.  Good writer.  Did I like this book?  I think so.  Maybe you will too.