Complicating matters is the boss’s will, which left the company to the employees who survived him while still in his employ. He had just bought a rival toy company, and some of its employees are suspects.

The story could have been a good one if there weren’t so many loose ends and ridiculous suppositions. For instance, we are informed that a suspect, six feet tall, obtained his black eye from a car door that opened as he was walking by. No matter our disbelief, later we are told that witnesses saw it happen but at the time he already had a black eye. After spending all this time on the black eye it never comes up again as a factor in the mystery.

There are more situations like this. The author has a habit of suddenly providing Demary with information she somehow obtained when the reader was not present. Demary is a first person viewpoint so this is just plain weird when reading Hear Me Die.

Demary is not a likeable character. She seems immature and flirtatious. She didn’t do anything noteworthy or intelligent in this book. I wondered how the other female characters in the book could tolerate her. Demary’s assistant, a young black British computer whiz, is enjoyable, as is a woman attorney. The men are all written as weak eye candy or hopeless morons. The romantic interest, Demary’s cop boyfriend, is one dimensional, about all Demary deserves.

With so many gourmet-caliber mysteries out there, don’t waste your time on this TV dinner equivalent.

--Diane Gotfryd