KIRKUS REVIEW
The shadow of Ross Macdonald hangs heavy over this California case for John Marshall Tanner, a lawyer-turned-shamus who narrates with the downbeat wit that has become standard equipment for literate/hard-boiled sleuths. Tanner is hired by the wife of Roland Nelson, ""the most powerful consumer advocate in the country,"" to find out who's blackmailing her hubby and why (is it another woman?)--but the case soon changes gears when another detective is murdered, a detective who was hired by the Rolands' adopted, crippled daughter to track down her natural parents. And more murders await in Oxtail, Cal., when Tanner picks up the inquiry into the adopted girl's past--which involves old murders, a fierce love triangle, changed identities, and sexual obsession; familiar materials for Macdonald readers, who may find this an acceptable, if somewhat slow and steamily overdone, substitute for the real thing.