Buy this book
Books N Bytes participates in affiliate programs including Amazon Associates and Bookshop.org. We may earn a commission when you purchase through our links at no extra cost to you.
Senator Love is one of the Fiona Fitzgerald novels in which Warren Adler does the Washington he knew best: cocktail circuits, embassy dinners, the small overlapping social worlds of the federal city. A US senator is found dead under circumstances that the Capitol Police and the FBI are happy to call discreet. Fitzgerald, DC homicide, is less inclined to look the other way.
Adler's great resource is the social geography. The senator's mistress, his wife, his chief of staff, and the political consultant they all use are rendered with the kind of incident detail you can only get from a long-time observer. The procedural beats are competent. The political reveal in the back half is more soft-news than I prefer.
Three stars. A solid mid-series entry. Recommended to DC-political-mystery fans. The series has stronger entries (the early Fiona books are sharper) but this one is satisfying enough.
Related reads
If you liked Senator Love
The Witch of Watergate
by Warren Adler
A Warren Adler Fiona Fitzgerald mystery. DC homicide detective on a journalist's murder, with Watergate-era backstory.
The Ties That Bind
by Warren Adler
Late Fiona Fitzgerald. Warren Adler's DC detective still working murders that the city would prefer remain unsolved.
Blood Ties
by Warren Adler
Blood Ties by Warren Adler 1979 review. An assimilated American Jewish lawyer travels to Bavaria for a family wedding and uncovers a Nazi-era secret that pulls his identity apart.
Cult: A Novel of Brainwashing and Death
by Warren Adler
Warren Adler in domestic-thriller mode. A daughter's deprogramming, a parent's panic, and a mid-80s look at the cult crisis.
Mourning Glory
by Warren Adler
Mourning Glory by Warren Adler 1996 review. A broke single mother in Palm Beach starts trolling funerals for wealthy grieving widowers. Then she actually falls for one.
The Casanova Embrace
by Warren Adler
The Casanova Embrace by Warren Adler 1978 review. A Chilean dissident in Washington beds a string of women for political intelligence. An FBI handler tries to piece it together after his death.
More by this author