From Publishers Weekly
PI Dave Garrett made an impressive debut in The January Corpse in 1991. His fifth calendar appearance is marked by the same strong characterization and plotting and offers a well-disguised twist. A disbarred lawyer now operating Garrett Investigations in Philadelphia, Dave takes on a domestic surveillance job in nearby Wayne. Lawyer Charles Preston hires him to follow Maria Winter, the estranged wife of Preston's client, Pat Winter. The latter's disability, which led to the personal injury/worker's compensation claim Preston is handling for him, has exacerbated domestic problems that caused Maria to leave him. Now Pat is insisting on knowing what his wife is up to and insisting that Preston take care of finding out. Aided by his sometime assistant, onetime lover Lisa Wilson, Garrett sets out to get the answer. The investigation unravels in a fatal explosion, a murder and the threat of more murders unless Garrett can uncover the motive driving the killer. In Albert's mysteries, even the minor characters create a strong impact: Ralph Torino, a perceptive gay man with AIDS, sees more clearly into Lisa and Dave's relationship than they do themselves; Virginia Evans, an obese agoraphobic, explains her bitter plight to Garrett. The May entry in this increasingly satisfying series will leave readers looking forward to June.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
It looks as if p.i. Dave Garrett has taken on a routine job for suburban Pennsylvania attorney Charles Preston's Worker's Comp client Pat Winter: tail ailing Pat's estranged wife Maria to see whether her walking out on him involves stepping out with somebody else. And it isn't long before Dave (Cruel April, 1995, etc.) and his transsexual assistant Lisa Wilson link Maria to car salesman Tom Evans. But while he's being oh-so-careful to keep Maria from making her tail, he drops back far enough to let her die in a suspicious auto blaze. Accident or murder? Preston wants to know, so Dave circles Maria's pitifully few friends, asking the same old questions, like a buzzard sniffing, and eventually finding, rotten meat. Muddled detective work, but the powerful climax makes you realize how deeply Albert's burrowed into his sorry cast. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
