Margaret Truman has created the
Capital Murder series, with crime
scenes set in the Washington, D.C. area. Her Murder
at the FBI is one
of the earliest entries in the
series, which has grown to include such
titles as Murder at the National Cathedral, Murder at the Kennedy
Center, and Murder at Union Station.One of the hallmarks of
Truman’s series is the superb descriptions she provides of Washington,
D.C. locales. Even readers don’t know the city at all, they could get
an idea about what it has to offer, thanks to her descriptive details
of settings for the action in her stories. Additionally, Truman (whose
father was Harry Truman, who became U.S. president in 1945 upon the
death of Franklin D. Roosevelt) gives readers superbly drawn sketches
of the types of activities which take place behind doors in the
nation’s capital. As a member of a former first family, she enjoy
entrée to any number of places and access to any number of people
unavailable to the public at large. Consequently, her murder mysteries
have the ring of authenticity about them.In Murder at the FBI,
her lead characters are two agents—Christine Saksis and Ross
Lizenby--who are involved romantically and who happen to end up on the
same team investigating a murder which took place in the FBI’s
headquarters itself. As the story unfolds, cracks develop not only in
their romance, but also in their working
relationship.As the
investigation proceeds, Saksis turns for assistance to an old friend
who helps her to think through aspects of the case, as well as her
deteriorating relationship with Lizenby. Determined to do her job as
best she can despite obstacles which come her way, Saksis learns in the
end that Lizenby isn’t the man she thought him to be.Truman is
not a heavyweight in the field of murder mysteries. Yet she tells a
nice little story which makes for entertaining reading while on a plane
or at the beach.