From Publishers Weekly
Holt, book editor of the San Francisco Chronicle , once worked for Lipset, a colorful character who is that city's--and probably the country's--most famous private investigator. She is obviously fascinated by both the man and his life, and a good deal of that fascination is conveyed to the reader as she recounts some of his most celebrated cases, largely using his own words. Lipset began as an investigator in the U.S. Army, and has remarkable stories to tell about wartime criminality in the service which are probably worth a book of their own. Later he became a pioneer in electronic surveillance techniques (Coppola's movie The Conversation was partly a portrait of Lipset), while remaining busy with a variety of cases that range from standard divorce snooping through insurance fraud to catching a jewel thief in Europe. One of the odd things about Lipset is his amoral, apolitical approach to his work: according to him, guilt or innocence is the court's concern, not his; he will work for anyone who pays. All this comes across well in the long excerpts from interviews; but in the end one wishes he had written the book himself, because too much of Holt's linking narrative consists of rather obvious psychological observations and sometimes strained attempts to link Lipset's work with that of famous detectives of fiction.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Sam Spade, Philip Marlowe, Lew Archer, Travis McGee. The names of these fictional private detectives conjure up images of tough guys, single-handedly solving crimes and being the only "white knight" in a field of bad guys. In reality, private detectives lead fairly normal lives, have families, avoid violence, and work with teams of investigators. Lipset is such a detective. Starting his career after World War II, Lipset was a pioneer in the surveillance field. Establishing a team of able investigators, he used a mix of old and new techniques: long, arduous days of watching, developing, and verifying detailed background checks, and also devising and using new electronic surveillance devices. In this enjoyable book, Holt, a former investigator for Lipset and now book editor for the San Francisco Chronicle , has captured the dichotomy of Lipset's life--the excitement and the humdrum. Recommended. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 5/15/91.
- Sandra K. Lindheimer, Middlesex Law Lib., Cambridge, Mass.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
- Sandra K. Lindheimer, Middlesex Law Lib., Cambridge, Mass.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
