From Publishers Weekly
Middleaged, Bronx-born New York detective Dave leaves the violence of the city streets for a change of pace as investigator for the district attorney's office in the small Southwestern town of Mesa Grande. But he soon encounters as much mayhem, and even more hostility, prevarication, and cynicism in an unlikely spot: the English department of Mesa Grande College. When Stuart Bellamy, scion of a distinguished family and recently tenured English professor, is bludgeoned to death with a bronze paperweight, suspicion falls on likeable professor Mike Russo, who was passed over for tenure in favor of Bellamy. Dave begins a tentative investigation of the case and is given pointed advice by an astute, highly intelligent, intuitive source: his visiting mother. Now in her 70s, Mom is a tough, shrewd New Yorker with a wry wit and an ability to mix keen analytical deductions with her more traditional talents as cook, mother and matchmaker. This fast-paced mystery contains a rich trove of sharply etched supporting characters who animate the plot with caustic wit and imaginative ploys. Of course, Mom steals the show.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
After the death of his wife, Dave leaves his police job in New York City to settle in Mesa Grande, Colorado, as investigator for the public defender's office. While his mother, a wonderfully insightful and logical Jewish woman, visits for the first time, a murder occurs among the local college professors, and she helps her son solve it. Yaffe presents a winner here: a skillfully wrought and finely detailed case full of twists, theorizings, and more twists. Wry, down-to-earth, and satisfying. REK
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
