Rosalie Curzon, a Washington DC call girl, is found bludgeoned to death in her Adams-Morgan apartment. At the murder scene a video camera is discovered nestled high on a bookshelf. Had the victim taped some of her clients during their sexual liaisons? As the investigation proceeds, so does business inside the Beltway. President Burton Pyle is heatedly running for reelection against consummate politician Robert Colgate, who is expected to win. Colgate, though, is not without cracks in his slick exterior. Rumors swirl about his failing marriage and various dalliances. But no one is prepared for the explosive development that erupts when the daughter of Colgate’s closest friend is kidnapped and Detective Mary Hall and rookie cop Matthew Jackson uncover a shocking connection between the abduction, the Curzon case - and a killer no one will see coming. ( )

From the "A Capital Crimes Novel" series. I've read several but I enjoyed it like it was the first one I ever read. I think the Associated Press said it best (about Margaret Truman as author), "She's up-to-the-minute. And she's good." I would have said great or terrific or ... but you get the drift! :) ( )

Love this series - and this may be the last.
Ms. Truman has passed away.
Read most of them - maybe a few on shelf yet to catch up on.
I've enjoyed some others more than this one - if you're reading Ms. Truman, I think the ones set in specific Washington DC building and featuring Mac & Anabelle Smith are the best.
Read in 2009.
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Margaret Truman was the only daughter of President Harry Truman. She used her knowledge of national politics and Washington D.C. to write the Capital Crimes novel series. Ms. Truman died January of 2008 and this is her twenty-fourth and last book in the series.

The novel opens with the murder scene of high-paid prostitute Rosalie Curzon (savagely beaten then strangled). Her murder creates a quiet panic among her high-powered clients when the local police discover she had videotaped her clients and the police start systematically investigating each of them. But early on there is a suspicion that one videotape may be missing.

The story is told primarily from young detective Matt Jackson's viewpoint as he deals with his demeaning and racist superior - a twenty-three year veteran, Walt Hatcher. A secondary plotline is Matt and his coworker, Mary Hall are romantically entangled and Walt can't stand a mixed couple so the pressure is on. Walt Hatcher's view point gets several chapters to get us into his anger-filled, often drunk and physically ill head.

Rosalie Curzon's murder soon becomes intertwined with a bitter presidential campaign between incumbent President Burton Pyle and his "shoe-in" opponent Robert Colgate.

READ THE REST OF THE REVIEW HERE:
http://mysterysuspence.blogspot.com/2009/11/review-murder-inside-beltway-by.html ( )