Dead Politician Society by Robin Spano

Title:  Dead Politician Society
Author:  Robin Spano
Genre:  Murder/Mystery
Publisher:  ECW Press
Publication Date:  1st September 2010
ISBN:  978-1-55022-942-4
Stand alone or series:  Series
Pages:  325
Book Received from:  Author
First Lines:  Clare Vengel tossed her leg over her Triumph and kicked it into gear.  The sun was shining, the mayor was dead and Cloutier wanted to meet with her.

Synopsis：
After the mayor falls down dead in the middle of a speech, a clandestine student society claims credit for his demise.

Clare Vengel is given her first undercover assignment: to pose as a student and penetrate the society. A streetwise amateur mechanic, Clare finds university a foreign land, and has trouble creating an in with the suspects. She quickly alienates a popular professor and loses the respect of police superiors.
 When another politician is killed, Clare kicks herself into high gear. She forges friendships with students and makes inroads into the secret society.
 As the body count rises, Clare realizes that the murderer she has to unmask is someone she has come to consider a friend. She only hopes that the friend doesn't unmask her first.
 
My Thoughts
The synopsis of Dead Politician Society really had me wanting to get my hands on a copy.  And sure enough I did.

The story is told from a number of characters point of views in third person past tense.  The few that stood out to me were definitely Clare and Annabel.  Clare is given the job of going undercover as a student to try and gather as much information as she can about a secrety society operating within.  I liked Clare right from the beginning.  A Cop who drinks and smokes and an occasional mechanic, she is quite witty and has that spark that not all characters have. 
Annabel is an Obituary Reporter and girlfriend to Matthew.  I can't quite pin down exactly what it is I liked about her but I think it was her determination to see things through and the way she handles certain decisions.  Robin has done a brilliant job in creating strong, unique characters.

One thing I liked about DPS was that it wasn't too heavy on description.  While I don't get politics full stop I still got a good understanding about each 'party' the students were divided up into without feeling snowed down on the technical stuff like I worried I might've been.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading Dead Politician Society.  The characters are strong and likable, especially Clare.  In some ways this reminds me a little of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series.

You can find out more by visiting Robin Spano's website http://www.robinspano.com/