A Fine Italian Hand: A Shifty Lou Anderson Mystery [Hardcover]

William Murray (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 20, 1996

There's no better writer than Murray working today. --New York Daily News

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Shifty Lou Anderson?gambler, magician, and card shark?attends an international magician's conference in Milan, Italy. He cannot stand most of the locals but falls in with a beautiful model, who unfortunately meets with murder. Shifty takes on the case when locals seem unwilling. Another success for Murray.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

Shifty Lou Anderson, forsaking his beloved Santa Anita Racetrack for the International Brotherhood of Magicians conference in Milan, finds Italy nothing if not decorative. There's aspiring model Bobby Jo Dawson, the cynosure of every lecherous Italian eye; established model Parker Williams, the Ice Princess, who leaves a trail of frustrated men in her wake; and Francesco Pirro, the uninhibited freelance photographer who takes the first pictures of Bobby Jo's body after she's found on the shore of Lake Lugano, beaten, raped, and drowned. Bobby Jo's father Jake, a Kentucky breeder who knows Shifty just well enough to ask a favor, wants him to stay in Milan in order to ship the body home and keep the pressure on investigating magistrate Angela Tedeschi. Tedeschi is studiously avoiding any interest in Bobby Jo's violent, well-connected squire, Adriano Barone--even though Barone's industrialist father ruined her own father years and years ago. For Shifty, who last saw Bobby Jo drugged and feebly struggling with Adriano's fast friends at a wild party, it's an offer he can't refuse. What Shifty can't know is that despite his continued success at the track and the card table, and the way he wows the ladies with his sleight of hand, he's the slowest player in the game this time. More Cook's tour than mystery, with Shifty dismayingly out of his league, but Murray's eighth (Now You See Her, Now You Don't, 1994, etc.) does save a pair of handsome surprises for the end. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: M.Evans & Company (March 20, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0871317974
• ISBN-13: 978-0871317971
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,022,351 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars hifty takes his act to Italy., June 26, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Sarasota, Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Fine Italian Hand: A Shifty Lou Anderson Mystery (Hardcover)

A delightful romp for Shifty in his beloved Italy. Surrounded by his favorite things, fast horses, flashy women, and fine food, Shifty finds himself once again unable to walk away from trouble. He meets up with a enchanting series of characters; a wealthy magaician "wannabe", a struggling American model, an elfish "papparazza", a self-centered playboy of enormous wealth and power, as well as a sly and crafty female district attorney with a very special agenda. Shifty has a chance to turn the tables in a no-limits poker game but soon finds the tables turned on him in one of the best surprise endings in the series to date. Even though Shifty leaves all his cronies at home for this trip you'll find that they're not even missed. Another fine installment in a thoroughly entertaining series.

3.0 out of 5 stars Psychopaths and sleight of hand, July 23, 2004

By 

Lynn Harnett (Marathon, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Fine Italian Hand: A Shifty Lou Anderson Mystery (Hardcover)

In his ninth adventure, Shifty Lou Anderson, magician, card sharp and horse player, attends a magician's convention in Milan and sticks around for crime solving.

When a naive American would-be model is found raped and beaten nearly to death, the list of suspects is small and headed by a playboy psychopath from a very rich, crooked and protected family. But the Italian police seem determined to pin the crime on a pair of car thieves. Shifty, hired by the girl's father, does some investigating of his own with the help of an independent, eccentric and sexy Italian photographer.

While the plot does not move at lightning speed and some readers may anticipate the resolution, Shifty is an entertaining and crafty protagonist and the Italian setting is well realized ? especially the food.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Awful, August 7, 2005

By 

Eric Khong (Perth, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Fine Italian Hand: A Shifty Lou Anderson Mystery (Hardcover)

Simply awful. What can I say to explain this statement? Perhaps the following list may give you an idea: a disastrous plot that is so transparent my 5 year old could have seen the end coming, tired and jaded characters that are about as lifelike as a statue, occassional lapses in grammar, etc etc

If you have the time to read a book, I would humbly suggest trying some other title.