Hoag offers more than the standard "who-done-it" mystery in Ashes to Ashes.

There are a number of subplots that constitute mysteries-within-the-mystery. Readers are forced to ask a number of questions.

Who is Angie? Who is the body? What do Quinn and Kate have to do with one another? Was there an incestuous relationship? By weaving these multiple mysteries together, Hoag attempts to create a richer text.

Like other authors writing in the crime genre, Hoag puts a great deal of emphasis on precision and detail when it comes to describing life in law enforcement. Readers who are devoted to crime fiction derive pleasure from these details; the ability to interpret clues along with the investigators offers the reader a chance to be an "insider."

Hoag's major technique for bringing readers into the minds of "insiders" is what narratologists refer to as "free indirect discourse," in which a character's...