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MURDER CAN COOL OFF YOUR AFFAIR
by Selma Eichler
Signet, March 2002
272 pages
$5.99
ISBN: 0451205189


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Reading a new Selma Eichler Desiree Shapiro mystery is like going to the Carnegie Deli with an old friend and hearing of her latest adventures over a pastrami on rye, accompanied by their great pickles. Desiree, a woman "of a certain age," is a zaftig widow who runs her own P.I. firm in New York.

It's possible that Cain slew Abel over who would inherit the apple core, since disputes over inheritance seem to be among the oldest in the world.

In Murder Can Cool Off Your Affair, Desiree is hired by John Landers and his pit bull wife to find out who is threatening his life. There has already been one attempt, and, in the course of the story, there is a second.

After the murder of the first in line of John's Uncle Victor's heirs, John will stand to inherit a considerable fortune. Technically, Desiree is hired only to learn who is trying to kill John, but she insinuates herself into the search for Edward's

murderer.

Her task is made doubly difficult by the certainty of her police officer friend, Tim Fielding, that her client is the murderer. All Desiree's attempts to wheedle information from him and to make him realize that one of the other potential heirs is the murderer are to no avail.

Desiree's list of suspects include the "grieving" widow, a pair of twins (brother and sister), and a young man -- related to Uncle Victor's wife -- whom Uncle Victor took under his wing. Along the way, Desiree uncovers two affairs, one of which would assure the male access to Uncle Victor's fortune. All of the characters are interesting; no one is thoroughly dislike-able, so the reader roots

for all of them to be innocent. The identity of the killer is a TOTAL surprise.

Since the early days of the series, Desiree has been bedeviled by the octogenarian father-in-law of her neighbor and friend Harriet. He is an embarrassment in restaurants, as he always finds fault with everything and is loud and obnoxious in his protestations to the waiters. Desiree's efforts to fend off his advances provide some of the books more hilarious moments.

Altogether, Selma Eichler has constructed a well written mystery, filled with an adroitly drawn cast of characters and with MURwonderfully quirky humor.

Reviewed by Mary Elizabeth Devine, January 2002

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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