From Publishers Weekly
In his latest outing, Healy's ( Shallow Graves ) Boston PI Cuddy is coping with the aches and pains of age and accumulated injuries, the vagaries of his romance with assistant D.A. Nancy Meagher and two oddball clients interested in splitting the same case. After Pearl Rivkind's elderly husband--furniture mogul "Honest Abe"--was murdered, his secretary, Darbra Proft, took a New Jersey vacation from which only her suitcase returned. Pearl wants Cuddy to solve Abe's murder, while Darbra's obnoxious brother hopes to prove his sister is dead. Cuddy reluctantly accepts the dual case, discovering for starters that no one is grieving for the missing Darbra. Assorted friends and relations prove both suspicious and uncooperative, motives abound and another corpse turns up before solutions do. Along with his nose for crime, Cuddy demonstrates--with his customary terse wit and pungent observations on human nature--that he is aging very nicely indeed. Healy has smoothed out his protagonist's edges over the years, while romance seems to have gentrified him. Author and detective prove once again that hard-boiled methods and solid legwork get the job done.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
William Proft and Pearl Rivkind convince Boston private eye John Francis Cuddy to take their mutual-interest case. Rivkind's husband, furniture-store owner Honest Abe, was killed in a break-in. His secretary, Proft's sister Dabra (yes, Dabra), takes a vacation shortly thereafter, returns briefly, then disappears without a trace. The pair believes there may be a connection. Cuddy reluctantly takes the case, realizing a conflict may arise. As he investigates, he finds Rivkind's business was failing, and he was having an affair with Dabra, who had at least two other men in her life. More disturbing to Cuddy is the Proft siblings' possible involvement in their heavily insured mother's death a few years earlier. Then there's the matter of Dabra's past, which is strewn with other dead lovers. Underpinning Cuddy's investigation is a dawning realization of his own vulnerability and his growing commitment to a longtime lover. The ninth Cuddy novel is a stellar entry in an always challenging and entertaining series.
Wes Lukowsky
