Margaret Truman –Murder in the White House (06-027)

Only a week before my little sister asked me if I had a certain book. She was reading a book and it missed several chapters. I was able to help her, so no real problem. Of all the books I had read in my life, only once I had a similar misprint.

Obviously only a week later, the same thing happened to me. I was in Luxemburg, ran out of books and found a book in the hotel that I knew I owned or had owned, but never read. So I pick it up and read it. The next day I notice something strange. Something about a broken arm from one of the characters, though I never read she had broken it. Next a reference to a car crash, also unknown to me. I tried to track back and found the problem. I had missed 33 pages. Not because I skipped them, they were just not there. Luckily they compensated: 32 other pages were thrown in twice. I continued to read anyway and in the end I didn’t feel as if I’d missed a lot. This couldn’t be a compliment for the book.

Back home I found the book and read the missing pages. The story by Margaret Truman, daughter of Harry S.Truman, former President of the USA, is a simple Whodunnit. I don’t know why it got so much praise, as the story remained way too one-dimensional to my liking. The fact that the author once lived in the White House meant that she could throw in some details that other authors would have to do without, but that is about the only thing the book has on other similar books.

There has been a murder in the White House, a young advisor to the president has been put in charge of the investigation. This means trouble for him, for the daughter of the president who really likes him (the press talks about a marriage), but also for others who don’t like that this young man has been put above them. In the end there is a predictable change of events.

Poor book, even worse translation, but it did fill time in between books. Which is the most positive point I can think of.

Number: 06-027
Title: Moord in het witte huis (Murder in the White House)
Author: Margaret Truman
Language: Dutch (Orig.: English, USA)
Year: 1987 (Orig.:1980)
# Pages: 192 (4323)
Category: Whodunnit
ISBN: 90-6291-267-2

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