Wednesday, January 12, 2005

Diagnosis Murder

I wanted to take a break from my Spur Award reading and read something purely for pleasure, so I picked up a copy of THE SILENT PARTNER, one of Lee Goldberg's novels based on the Diagnosis Murder TV series, which he wrote and produced for many years.

Now, I'll admit that I was not a regular viewer of the TV show, but I saw quite a few episodes and enjoyed them. Lee's book is even better because in a novel there's room for more complicated plots and because the author doesn't have to worry about things like a budget and shooting schedule. THE SILENT PARTNER gives the reader not one case but two: the search for a serial killer outside the hospital, and a medical mystery combined with another murder inside the hospital. Both are well thought out, and Lee does a fine job of playing fair with the reader and providing all the clues. As could be expected from someone in his position, he has a thorough grasp of the characters, and he writes in a clean, well-paced style that's a joy to read. I may not have seen all the episodes of the TV show, but I suspect I'll wind up reading all of the Diagnosis Murder novels.

Now, however, it's back to the Spur submissions.

2 comments:

Lee Goldberg said...

Wow -- I'm so flattered. Thank you!

Unknown said...

Rarely to novels based on a TV series work very well for me. I can think of only two exceptions offhand, and one is the DIAGNOSIS MURDER books. Judy was a big fan of the series, so I may have seen more episodes than you. But I like the books better. The other exception is your novels based on WALKER: TEXAS RANGER. Those books are well worth looking for.