How to use this Page

Welcome  to the TLC Book Tour of The Killing of Mindi Quintana by Jeffrey A. Cohen


I'm particularly excited to welcome the author here today.    Let me fill you in on the book and the author and then we'll settle in for a chat with Jeffrey A. Cohen.

The blurb:
Freddy Builder is certain he is meant for more.  More than his life in corporate America bondage.  More than selling china to bluebloods in Philadelphia's landmark department store, Chanet's.  Meant for more, meant for better, and lacking only, only an occasion to rise to.

And now that occasion is murder -- of Mindi Qunitana, an old college flame wanting simply to stay in his past.

Freddy's crime is major news from the start.  Mindi is the beautiful daughter of a renowned Philadelphia businessman whose dramatic fall a few years back captivated the city.  A televised trial for Freddy is in the offing.  Meanwhile, he is writing the book about his relationship with Mindi -- a remorseless rewrite of her life, his own, and their miserably thin involvement.

As excerpts of the book are published to acclaim, he gives articulate, sympathetic jailhouse interviews, publishes ghostwritten articles on prison issues, and coverage goes national.  A new celebrity murderer is taking the stage -- a killer with a book, a jailhouse literary sensation.

Freddy's defense attorney, Philip, watches in disgust as his client builds his fame with the bones of his victim.  As a career public defender, Philip thought he'd seen evil in all its incarnations.  He'd lost his outrage, his passion for the law, and his marriage along the way.  But as Freddy's case is a turning point for him -- the public's sympathy for the poet-murderer, the rebel, the killer as great soul -- stirs something dormant in Philip.

To stop Freddy, and to vindicate Mindi, Philip will have to violate his oath, even break the law.  But with the help of Mindi's best friend Lisa, he gives Mindi back the truth of her life and her death.  And he'll deliver a comeuppance to a killer with a book.

Review:
The Killing of Mindi Quintana drew me in from the start.  The first scenes and much of the novel is told from Freddy Builder's point of view.  We're privy to his thoughts, grievances, and fears as he plods through his workday.   He is unhappy, quick tempered, emotionally sensitive and callous at the same time.   It is clear that Mindi Quintana had represented a bright spot in his college life and he often relives the time they'd had together.

When a chance encounter brings Mindi and Freddy together, he is desperate not to lose her this time.  Freddy's perception of her interest and his own determination  keep him from seeing Mindi's disinterest. &n