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A Confidential Source

by Jan Brogan

A Confidential Source will be especially interesting to reporters and inveterate gamblers. Jan Brogan writes well, and intelligently writes about the worlds she's actually inhabited or researched. The protagonist in this book is Hallie Ahern, a reporter who is less than perfect, and thus an ideal heroine, made human and believable by her foibles. Jan Brogan is a fairly new novelist, but her journalistic experience has provided an excellent background for her stories, and Ms. Brogan is adept at the inclusion of all five 'W's' (What, Who, Where, When and Why) – one of the journalistic primary guidelines – in her novels as well. A Confidential Source wasn't one of the stories I couldn't put down, but it came close!

Hallie Ahern was a prize-winning reporter on a large-scale newspaper. Was, that is, until she evidently fell in love with the wrong man, compromised her position, reported incorrectly, and was promptly transferred to what might as well have been Outer Mongolia. Hallie now covers stories in Providence, Rhode Island such as garden club and school board meetings. Her life is love-empty, and Hallie is fighting off her addiction to insomnia pills; spending most evenings calling into a local radio late night show under an assumed name.

Everything changes in Hallie's life when she inadvertently hears (but not sees) the robbery and murder of a convenience store owner in her neighborhood who has just sold her some lottery tickets. In an attempt to recuperate her lost status as a first class journalist. Hallie gathers all the information she can from friends of the murdered man for an article that places the victim in a near-sainthood category. The article is accepted and runs on the front page.

Further investigation, however, reveals that the murdered man, Barry Mazursky, was deeply in debt with a gambling problem. The murder becomes more than an addendum to a robbery and more in the line of a hit. With the unlikely assistance of Matt Cavanaugh, Assistant District Attorney, plus Leonard, the late-night talk show host, Hallie discovers conspiracy and conniving in high political circles of the community.

After printing another front-page account of information on the less pleasant side of Barry Mazursky, Hallie finds herself once again the recipient of invalid information, with the consequential relegation back to the 'safer' reporting of board meetings, etc. Her bosses are less than pleased about having to print still another retraction on their front page. When Hallie remonstrates, she's given only one week to prove that someone is lying.

Leonard, the talk-show host, is the individual responsible for giving Hallie incorrect information, and he's since indicated his desire to make up for that by providing her with valid evidence pointing in still another direction. Then Leonard is also killed in a freak 'accident' before he can give Hallie the incriminating material.

The murders prove to be necessary to a surprising, highly-placed individual, and due to an even more surprising reason. A Confidential Source ends most satisfactorily, after the usual mayhem and near-death of the heroine.

Jan Brogan seems to gain more insight into the world of crime and murder with each novelistic effort. At the rate Ms. Brogan is progressing, she'll be listed up there with her present favorite novelists - which include people like Scott Turow, Linda Barnes and Deborah Crombie. I was delighted to read that Jan Brogan also enjoys Janet Evanovich and Dave Barry as well!

Alan Paul Curtis

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