1977 mystery; first in Muller's series about Sharon McCone, private
investigator in San Francisco. Sharon's been looking into arson and
vandalism on a street of junk and antique shops that's in the
crosshairs of gentrification. But now one of the shop owners has been
fatally stabbed.
This is the first of a long series, and I like to start long
series with the first book, but sometimes it's moderately hard work.
The writing is fast-paced and punchy, with few words spent on lyrical
descriptions, but very little actually happens for the first
two-thirds of the book: Sharon gradually does a stock-take of the
murdered dealer's shop, and ponders on why the murder might have
happened. It's only in the last third, when she starts following clues
and uncovering things, that the story really gets going.
The mystery is pretty straightforward, with three major plausible
motives, some of which lead to multiple suspects; the experienced
reader won't be confused for long, although there are several clues of
omission, and some significant bits of information are kept back to
the last moment.
Characters are sketched-in, but well-sketched; even the minor ones are
at least tintype forms with the beginnings of a third dimension. They
do tend to revolve round the investigation, though; Sharon wouldn't
appear to have any friends if it weren't that some of them are helpful
in answering questions about the junk/art she's coming across as part
of her work. Least effective of all is Greg Marcus, the homicide cop
in charge, who comes over as most of the stereotypes of 1970s
masculinity but still ends up as Sharon's love-interest. (I think
Muller was trying for romantic sparring, but it doesn't work for me at
least.)
In 1977 this would have been a revelation: it's neither
twist-the-knife nasty nor archaically cosy, but a semi-hard-boiled
mystery (without the sense that everything everywhere is corrupt
that's key to the true hard-boiled). And of course Sharon is one of
the first female private eyes in fiction.
That might have been enough then. The book doesn't stand well on its
own now, but is still appealing as an historical artefact.
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