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New from Avalon Books - Encounter by Deadline
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Oline H. Cogdill
Mystery columnist
Sun Sentinel
1/1/2006
Inside TV news
Murder by Deadline. Mel Taylor. Avalon. $21.95. 224 pp.
Fort Lauderdale author Mel Taylor shows a good deal of potential in his debut novel of what happens when a story hits too close to home for a TV journalist.
As a reporter for a South Florida TV station, Matt Bowens is used to getting strange telephone calls and weird tips. Matt wants to help a woman who thinks she's being followed by a stalker, but the conversation is short and the woman hangs up without identifying herself. But the woman does tell Matt just enough about herself that when he's assigned to cover a homicide the next day, he knows the murder victim is his mysterious caller. Matt links the caller to an elite committee on money laundering that's trying to set up a conference in Fort Lauderdale. Since one committee member is the best friend of Matt's girlfriend, the story becomes personal.
Taylor, a reporter for South Florida's WPLG-Ch. 10, deftly delivers a unique view of television journalism in a story touching on ethics, the chaos of the newsroom and the competition among members of the media. Taylor is certainly on the right track in developing Matt, who emerges as a strong, moral man with a concern not just for getting the story but for reporting it in a humane manner. He's also quite loyal to his girlfriend, even when she becomes a shrew. Taylor wisely peppers Murder by Deadline with telling glimpses of South Florida neighborhoods and landmarks as well as insights into the area. If Murder by Deadline is any indication, Taylor should be making many a deadline with his new series.
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