2004 mystery, twenty-second in Muller's series about Sharon McCone,
private investigator in San Francisco. Sharon's newest employee, Julia
Rafael, is arrested for credit card fraud. Did she do it, and if not,
who's got it in for her?
McCone shows some initial doubt as to whether Julia's story is
true, and this is used effectively: the agency's employees are in no
doubt as to Julia's innocence, but McCone is a little more cautious,
as her ability to read people wars with her innate suspicion and
experoence. Julia herself has a mildly criminal past, including prison
time, and is used enough to being ground down by the system that she's
not as ready to defend herself as one might expect—or to accept the
expensive legal help that McCone automatically offers.
There are surprisingly many callbacks here: three of the stories in
McCone and Friends are at least mentioned in passing, and Sharon
contemplates her history in San Francisco with what feels at times
like the start of a mid-life crisis. (Some of this is because her
lover, Hy Ripinsky, has asked her to marry him, and she's finding
herself not at all inclined to make that commitment.) I can see the
appeal of making every book independent so that a new reader won't
feel lost, but as someone who's read the series from the beginning I
do appreciate the references and the sense of a continuing narrative.
As for what's actually going on, to go into detail would be to reveal
much of the process of investigation, but a large part of the
narrative consists of going through old records to try to work out who
might be going to all this trouble—either to do down Julia, or because
she's an easy way to attack the agency she's now working for. Of
course there's the usual practical investigation, and potential
informants start dropping dead at an alarming rate.
Good fun, and an enjoyable continuation of the series.