IN PLAIN SIGHT

by Barbara Block ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 1, 1996

Three questions for pet-shop owner Robin Light, the very amateur sleuth whose Syracuse neighbors obviously have no use for the police. First, there's the death of Marsha Pennington, who begged Robin to help her wrestle her beloved Shih Tzus away from her estranged husband Merlin, a spiteful man who's always hated the little beasts. Second, Wellington High principal Gregory Garriques wants Robin to track down missing student Estrella Torres, though he keeps contradicting himself about the reason. Third, sinister M&M Exterminators is duping timorous clients into installing bogus bat repellents. Not enough action for you? After Marsha ends up preceding, her darlings to paradise (they're killed afterwards, in a pleasantly macabre scene), leaving Robin with suspicions of murder the cops turn a deaf ear to, gambler Fast Eddie Marino's mother leans on Robin to find the $30,000 Marsha owed Eddie. Indefatigable Robin eventually ties all these cases together, but the joyless dot-to-dot exercise, relying on still another concealed crime and a convenient janitor who keeps revealing endless depths of criminal complicity, manages to be both mind-boggling and routine. Quite a comedown, then, from last year's bright Twister.

Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1996

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 321

Publisher: Kensington

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1996

Categories: FICTION