DEATH TURNS A TRICK

by Julie Smith ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 24, 1982

An inauspicious debut for amateur sleuth Rebecca Schwartz--a young, blithe, frequently downright-giddy San Francisco lawyer who's dedicated to causes like HYENA: an organization working to make prostitution legal. So, when client-friend Elena, owner of a fancy brothel, asks Rebecca to fill in as piano-player at a non-business party, Rebecca obliges . . . and soon finds herself mingling with prostitutes (like blackmailing blonde Kandi, who turns out to be the sister of Rebecca's current lover Parker!) and johns (like State Senator Calvin Handley). Furthermore, when Rebecca finally gets home, she finds Kandi's bludgeoned body on her living-room floor and $25,000 in her asparagus fern. The top suspect? Rebecca's beloved Parker. So the lawyer turns sleuth, is nearly drowned in her aquarium (by a cop on the take), and meets assorted other bordello clients--including her Uncle Walter. A wildly mixed-up plot that soon becomes a California-style bore--with a cutesy narrator-heroine who's utterly overshadowed by the recent female-sleuth debuts of Sara Paretsky, Sue Grafton, and others.

Pub Date: Dec. 24, 1982

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Walker

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 1982

Categories: FICTION