Alex Rada's shabby abode in lower Manhattan belies his tenacity as a private detective: he soon discovers that a college woman reported missing has been murdered. Alex investigates her past, the not-so supportive "family" that raised her, and her clandestine relationship with his female client, a media adviser for an ambitious female senatorial candidate. With its quick-action vignettes, straightforward dialog, lurking villain, and sketchy-but-picturesque characters, this first novel reflects Mazel's screenwriting experience. A lightweight touch for larger collections.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
When New York private eye Alex Rada is hired to find a missing graduate student, he winds up smack-dab in the middle of a web of political intrigue. In many ways, this is a fairly ordinary mystery. Ex-cop Rada is not a particularly successful detective, his client Is beautiful and duplicitous, and Alex solves the case more by luck than by skill. But readers who check it out will be rewarded with a well-written slightly eccentric tale that's most satisfying. This is the first novel by Mazel, a playwright and screenwriter, and he's clearly put a lot of work into it. Although his plot comes right out of the pulp-fiction magazines of a half-century ago, his prose-is fresh and funny, and his story is populated by people we haven't seen before. Mazel can write rings around some of his more established competitors, and readers looking for something unique will be delighted to discover him. --David Pitt -- David Pitt, Booklist, February 15, 1999
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