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MURDER CAN BOTCH UP YOUR BIRTHDAY
by Selma Eichler
Signet, March 2004
272 pages
$5.99
ISBN: 0451211529


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Ten years after his murder conviction, Victor Pirrelli is seriously wounded in jail after an altercation. Before he dies he asks his now 16-year-old daughter, Vicky, to visit him. Victor tells his daughter that he wasn't guilty of the crime he is doing time for and that he didn't kill his girlfriend, Christina Trent, ten years earlier. After Victor dies, a devastated Vicky hires New York PI, Desiree Shapiro, to clear her father's good name.

Even though Desiree knows that Vicky probably wouldn't be able to pay her, Desiree takes pity on the young girl and accepts this tough case.

As Desiree begins her investigation she learns that everyone in Victor's family believes that he did commit the murder. Victor's mother, even though she loved him, knew her son had a temper and so it sounded plausible that he killed his girlfriend.

Vicky's mother was married to Victor during his affair with Christina, and she believed that he did it. Victor's brother, Tony, thought that he was guilty as well and had even been the one to arrange a plea bargain so that Victor never had a trial. And then Tony married Victor's wife after he was imprisoned.

Also, all the evidence pointed to Victor as Christina's killer; he had broken her jaw in a dispute a few short months earlier, he and Christina had a very loud argument just before the murder, and Victor was found holding the knife over his girlfriend's body.

But Vicky believes her father was innocent and Desiree wants to help the girl. But with so much evidence against Victor how is Desiree ever going to clear his name?

MURDER CAN BOTCH UP YOUR BIRTHDAY by Selma Eichler is a wonderful book in the Desiree Shapiro mystery series. Desiree is not the usual kind of private investigator we usually find in these stories. She's not the beautiful, sexy, young woman who depends on her good looks to get by. Desiree has the smarts and know-how to solve all her cases.

Selma Eichler surrounds Desiree with interesting returning characters. There's Desiree's doting niece who would do anything for her aunt; Nick, Desiree's love interest; and her next door neighbors who are always there with food to help Desiree solve her cases.

In MURDER CAN BOTCH UP YOUR BIRTHDAY, Eichler introduces us to the new characters for this case. We meet the suspects and are given plenty of reasons why any one of them might have committed the murder. The readers are told just enough about Desiree's personal life to keep them interested ­- but not enough to forget about the real reason we're reading this book -­ in finding out who committed the crime.

Ms Eichler's newest Desiree Shapiro mystery is fast-moving and loads of fun to read. If you're a fan of this series, be sure to pick it up. And if you've never met Ms Shapiro don't waste a moment more! Read MURDER CAN BOTCH UP YOUR BIRTHDAY, you'll enjoy it a lot. I did!

Reviewed by Sharon Katz, March 2004

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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