Book Review: There Was an Old Woman

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

There Was an Old Woman     Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Howard Engel
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Ethnic   Private Investigator
Series: Benny Cooperman # 8
Overlook, Aug 2000, $24.95, 272 pp.

Any legal contract requires consideration on the part of both parties. Ontario private investigator Benny Cooperman gets the maintenance person to fix his toilet while that same janitor Kogan gets the detective to attend the inquest into the death of his girl friend, wealthy Lizzy Oldridge. Apparently, she starved to death.

Benny is shocked to learn that though Lizzy was rich, she could not use her own money because her executor Thurstan Ramsden had set up a trust fund that gave him full and sole power. Her estate left everything to a charity coincidentally headed up by Thurstan. As Benny continues with his inquiries, he is also hired (for cash) to investigate TV reporter Catherine Bracken, but murder follows that case.

THERE WAS AN OLD WOMAN starts off as the best Benny Cooperman tale to date, but loses steam when the Bracken investigation veers the popular Canadian sleuth into an unnecessary subplot. Fans of the series will still fully enjoy Benny’s antics and talent to somehow get in trouble. Kogan is a great secondary character; the deceased Lizzy comes across as a real person in retrospect; and Thurstan is engaging in very disgusting way; just hide your wallet. With what is probably going to become the most famous toilet since the one in Archie’s place, the main story line is charming, fun and entertaining. Just flush the secondary story line for full pleasure.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner