I likee Margaqret Truman Washington Mysteries because there are interesting facts about Washington and a sneek peekinto the inner government workings as well as a mystery to solve at the same time. This is "Chewing gum for the eyes" as a friend once described a light, non descriptive violence, easy reading book.

The book opens with the murder of a Washington Trib employee being investigated. Then there is the murder of a second young woman also in the media business. Joe Wilcox, a veteran reporter for the Tribune is investigating the murders. Joe has his own agenda to reporting these murders.
There are no surprises and the ending is quite dull.

In the mood for a mystery so rereading some Margaret Truman books.

Published in 2005, Murder at the Washington Tribune, is like Margaret Truman's other mysteries. Superb! There has been a murder in the fictional "Washington Tribune". (All other locals such as eateries, and other landmarks are authentic to D C ) The police are investigating, but the paper starts it's own investigation as well. Enter Joe Wilcox, a veteran crime reporter. He's married, has an adult daughter with a career in broadcast journalism. Joe is in full tilt midlife crisis. He's knocking on retirement's door and feels he hasn't accomplished his career goals. He's desperate to achieve something big before he's forced out by new journalist in a new climate for news. So, when another murder occurs in a park, and Joe is close to the scene, he takes the story. When he gets wind of the theory some might believe this murder was connected with the earlier murder, he starts a series for the paper about the possibility of a serial killer being responsible. Joe's boss loves how the papers start selling and encourages Joe to continue with that theme. But, the cops aren't on board with the theory. They think the two crimes are unrelated. But, the theme through out the novel, explains how down hill journalism has gone. They must compete with 24/7 cable channels, the internet, blogs, and their ability to film news as it's happening. Newspapers don't have that edge. They are less concerned with fact and more concerned with revenue and the bottom line. Whatever sells papers. Joe hate tabloid reporting, but he's getting pressure from upstairs to consider early retirement, so he goes along. On top of all his job pressures, Joe has been contacted by his long lost brother, who has been "away" for 40 years.Everything starts to take it's toll on Joe, who makes a terrible decision, which could cost him everything. The book ends on an uplifting note, showing how our society now responds to scandal. At the time of this publication, Truman couldn't have imagined what would come in the next 7 years, with social media etc. A good authentic, old fashioned murder mystery.

I usually really like Margaret Truman’s books. But part of what makes them enjoyable are the characters. This just didn’t have that for me. The main characters here are selfish and too unlikeable for me to wade through a book this thick with. I skimmed a lot to the unsatisfying end.

Not her strongest effort but a fair read. A few twists that I didn't see coming and, in my opinion, a weak ending.

Boring.

This was my first Margaret Truman book.I thought it was a good read, until the end of the book. That part was a let down of what it could have been. My friend tells me to try another one of her books, so I might.

2.5 Stars

Margaret Truman is usually a good read. She knows how to meld character and plot driven narrative into her Capital Crimes Series, and that is what makes her mysteries good. However, Murder at The Washington Tribune was not her best novel. The plot line of young beautiful and rising “Panache” reporter, Jean Kaporis, at the fictitious Washington Tribune found brutally strangled in the supply closet at the far end of the newspaper’s main Newsroom immediately hooks the reader; especially when another young woman’s body is found in a nearby park soon after. Line Producer, Colleen McNamara was also strangled to death. With another young woman of the Media dead, headlines are screaming around Washington, D.C. Veteran Trib “cops” reporter Joe Wilcox is pressured to investigate the deaths with a task force of researchers and other Trib reporters to steer the MPD away from pursuing their theory that the killer works at the paper. His Editor also strongly suggests the bigger the story is, the greater the circulation and advertising revenue.

Feeling the heat not only from his bosses, Wilcox wonders if his own daughter, Roberta, is out to scoop him. Robbie is a rising TV reporter who desperately wants to break the story wide open and be the first to report the killer’s identity. Wilcox believes the murders are the work of one person and purposely floats his theory as fact, a no-no in journalism. Enter Joe’s brother, Michael. He has arrived in D.C. after spending 40 years in a Mental Institution for the Criminally Insane for killing a young girl in Illinois. Michael was in the Tribune building the night Kaporis was killed. Could Michael be the killer, Wilcox wonders. Could his indiscretion jeopardize the flow of information he relies upon from is MPD source? Could his beautiful daughter be the killer’s next victim?

Truman throws in a few more twists and mysteries, but loses threads here and there during the telling of the story, focusing on Joe and his relationships and his attempt to jump start his career in the cut-throat business that 21st Century Journalism has become with the advent of blogging and the 24/7 TV News cycle. He has become such a dinosaur that he missed the clue to Jean’s murderer that her father spoon fed him. The other investigations are predictable and the reader can solve some mysteries far ahead from when the answers are revealed. Other questions are never resolved, only to have Joe to exploit them. Veering away from her Capital Crime Series character, Mac Smith, just didn’t work well in this novel. Murder at The Washington Tribune was not bad, it just was not Truman's best.

Not one of her better efforts. It was very predicatble and had very one dimensional characters.

This is a mediocre but relatively satisfying who-done-it. This book is fast and easy to read, good for when you need a simple distraction for a few nights.

A good story