1990 mystery; ninth in Muller's series about Sharon McCone, private
investigator in San Francisco. Tracy Kostakos, rising comedian,
disappeared two years ago; Bobby Foster confessed to kidnapping and
killing her. But there's no body, he's recanted the confession, and
All Souls Legal Cooperative is handling his appeal.
There's a long and twisty road to the truth, with various people
having first concealed and then lied about what happened for a variety
of reasons. Most of them are pretty stupid and/or self-absorbed (and
Sharon herself starts to get to a place where she finds she doesn't
really care about finishing off the investigation once her client's
off the hook), but everything that's happened makes sense in terms of
the personalities involved (apart, perhaps, from a major clue missed
by the police during the initial investigation). It rapidly becomes
clear to the reader, if not to Sharon, at least roughly who must be
responsible, even before it's clear just what they're responsible
for.
Muller manages to keep a reasonable balance between the mystery and
Sharon's ongoing personal story: she's feeling low after having dumped
her latest boyfriend, the boss at the cooperative is at outs with his
wife, and Sharon's assistant is trying to learn on the job while
sorting out a troubled personal life. The pacing of the ending is
oddly disjointed, with an extended coda after the final action
sequence, and a romance subplot feels wedged-in as well as
unprofessional.
But Sharon's is still an interesting voice, she's a reasonably
competent investigator and mostly a smart person, the writing
continues to be effective description with occasional lyrical touches,
and I found myself more involved than in the last book.
The title doesn't appear to have any particular significance to the
story. Followed by Trophies and Dead Things.
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