THE CASE OF THE RUSSIAN DIPLOMAT

by E. V. Cunningham ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 3, 1978

It's a good thing that Masao Masuto of the Beverly Hills Police, who debuted in last year's One-Penny Orange case, is such a likably modern Zen-Buddhist fellow. And a good thing that old-pro Cunningham moves Masao along at such a cheery pace. Otherwise, the appearance of yet another terrorist PLOt (Et tu, E.V.?) might drive suspense fans to some terrorism of their own. This one involves a plan (hatched by an East German belly dancer and her Arab pals) to murder Russian agronomists and frame the Jewish Defense League; when Masuto investigates the drowning of a Russian diplomat in a hotel pool, he starts to catch on, so the baddies kidnap his daughter Ana, giving the steely Oriental an opportunity to show some emotion. With neatly sketched-in Beverly Hills lifestyles and some nicely gratuitous info on orange-growing, Cunningham gets away with this, but, please, next time--back to real motives like sex and greed!

Pub Date: April 3, 1978

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Holt, Rinehart & Winston

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1978

Categories: FICTION