Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner
Murder Can Singe Your Old Flame
Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
Selma Eichler
Class/Genre: Mystery Cozy Private Investigator Woman Main Character Humorous
Series: Desiree Shapiro # 6
Signet, Jan 1999, $5.99, 256 pp.
There is a vast difference between justice and the law, a tenet that private investigator Desiree Shapiro, if she does not already know, will have imbedded in every cell of her brain by the time she completes her current case. Her former lover, Bruce Simons, who she now loathes for concealing the fact that he was engaged to some one else, asks her to help him with a homicide charge. Bruce has been charged with killing his new wife. He has already admitted to the police that they had ugly public fights and that he was extremely jealous of a co-worker of his spouse. Beyond that, all the remaining evidence points to Bruce as the culprit.
Bruce knows how capable Desiree is when it comes to sleuthing and believes that their checkered past will not impede her from doing what she does best. He informs Desiree that his wife, a stewardess, thought one of her peers was smuggling drugs into this country during a flight from Nassau. Bruce feels that person is the killer. Desiree knows that Bruce is a louse but is not a murderer.
Murder, double dealing, and danger does not seem a likely scenario for the female heroine to crack jokes, but in the case of Desiree Shapiro peril and humor fit well together. This demonstrates the level of talent that Selma Eichler has at her disposal because combining jocularity with murder is a dangerous game. MURDER CAN SINGE YOUR OLD FLAME is a delightful mystery, highlighted by a star who needs to succeed to show up her former flame. The Shapiro mysteries have a new winning entry.
Harriet Klausner
Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner
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