The secret lives of dentists by W.A. Winter

Name of Book: The Secret Lives of Dentists

Author: W.A. Winter

ISBN: 978-1-64506-031-4

Publisher: Seventh Street books

Type of book: 1955-1956, USA, mystery, Minnesotta, anti-Judaism , dentists, ethics, bias, police, cheating, affairs, Minneapolis, marriage, stalking, obsession

Year it was published: 2021

Summary:

In 1955, small-town girls flock to Minneapolis for work, love, and adventure. But Teresa Hickman, from Dollar, North Dakota, is a special case. Beguiling. Promiscuous. And, on a chilly April morning, dead along an abandoned trolley track in a Southside neighborhood.

Teresa Hickman was three months pregnant when she was strangled. Was the unborn child’s father also her killer? Could the killer have been––among the many men drawn to her like flies to honey––Dr. H. David Rose, a middle-aged dentist who admits he was with her the night she died? There’s no forensic evidence or credible witnesses tying him to the murder. Yet the police, including a pair of obsessive investigators with lethal secrets of their own, agree that a Jewish dentist will get them a conviction.

Dr. Rose’s spectacular trial and its shocking aftermath will mesmerize the Upper Midwest like few crime sagas before or since. 

Characters:

The characters are very difficult to like and enjoy, I'm sorry to say. The men are pretty much from the same mold with little differences. That is, all are having affairs and are not people you'd want to introduce to anyone. The dentist is different actually, but still, for 21st century, he tends to be on the disgusting side, sleeping with patients and God knows what other secrets are kept. Women, unfortunately, aren't explored well, not their motivations or reasons for why they did things that they did, which is disappointing. 

 
Theme:

Personally for me, although I read it from cover to cover, I think main idea would have been is to think outside the box and examine your biases, as well as how lucky that we are living in 21st century. 

Plot:

The story is in third person narrative from many character's points of view, which is something new for me, because mysteries I read are from one or two points of view. But here we have the victim, her sister, the cops, a reporter, the cab driver and the dentist. Yet we still hadn't really learned the truth of what happened to the victim and why. Considering how the case was truly bungled, I would love it if a followup would be written taking place in 2000s where it's actually solved...

Author Information:
(From the book)

W.A. Winters is the pen name of William Swanson, a Minneapolis journalist. Swanson is the author of three true-crime books- Dial M: The Murder of Carol Thompson, Black White Blue: The Assassination of Patorlman Sackett, and Stolen From the Garden: The Kidnapping of Virginia Piper- published by Borealis Books, an imprint of the Minnesota Historical Society Press. Writing as W.A. Winter, he has published, besides, The Secret Lives of Dentists, three suspense novels available online from Kindle Books and Smashwords.com: Handyman, See You/See Me, and Wolfie's Game. 

Opinion:

I will be honest: I really really wanted to like this book, I did, but instead, I didn't enjoy the story, for I felt othered and very mad by the time last page was turned. I understand that the time wasn't nice or friendly to any minorities as well as well as they didn't have sophisticated crime fighting techniques nor DNA ideas. Yet the book seems to be an antithesis to other mysteries I have read, where investigators do the best they can with what they have, while here, The detectives do the worst job they can. I literally wanted to scream and just tell them to use DNA evidence, to not contaminate scene of the crime and so forth. I also have to wonder why the author wrote this particular story? As someone who is an ethnic minority, I really felt uncomfortable at reading this book, mainly because there is something stereotypical about the characters. What I did like was the attention to  details as well as history AND scenery built up. 

This was given for a review 

3 out of 5
(0: Stay away unless a masochist 1: Good for insomnia 2: Horrible but readable; 3: Readable and quickly forgettable, 4: Good, enjoyable 5: Buy it, keep it and never let it go.)