- Hardcover: 240 pages
- Publisher: Minotaur Books; First Edition edition (April 5 2003)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0312308493
- ISBN-13: 978-0312308490
- Product Dimensions: 21.7 x 14.8 x 2.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 417 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
A worthy successor to Catching Water in a Net (2000), Abramo's second in the San Francisco-based Jake Diamond PI series is a clever and well-crafted detective novel, gritty enough to satisfy hard-boiled readers but not so dark that it will put off more traditional mystery fans. Hired to break into a local judge's house and extract money and papers from a wall safe, Lefty Wright, a small-time thief, stumbles over the judge's corpse and is immediately surrounded by policemen. Wright later calls Diamond from prison, where he awaits trial for murder, and convinces the PI of his innocence. As Diamond proceeds with his investigation, the police, the governor and especially prosecuting attorney and DA candidate Lowell Ryder all make it very clear that they don't want him involved. When Wright is killed "trying to escape" en route to court, things get really interesting. Scrambling to make a case, Diamond trails crooked cops and even resurrects his dormant acting career to appear in a bit part in a movie to get close to a key suspect. Throughout the book, Diamond is reading Dumas's The Count of Monte Cristo, which parallels his current case.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
This workmanlike second entry in the Jake Diamond series finds the San Francisco PI searching for the real killer of an unpopular local judge after one of Diamond's clients, an accomplished burglar having a very bad night, is fingered for the murder. The deeper Diamond digs, the more folks end up dead--starting with his client and continuing with a low-level mobster, a misguided rich kid, and a couple of cops. The clues point to a rising-star prosecutor running for district attorney, but Diamond has a rough time making his case. The hard-boiled detective with a soft-boiled heart provides most of the book's low-key charms. Diamond is refreshingly direct with his questioning, listens to his conscience whenever possible, and has a knack for tying classic novels into the action at hand. His football-groupie assistant, Darlene, heads an appealing supporting cast that includes flaky flunky Vinnie "Strings" Stradivarius and Mob-connected confidant Joey Russo. Although the story is light on action and suspense, it's comfort food for PI fans. Frank Sennett
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
LEFTY WRIGHT SLIPPED THE RUSTY blade of his trusty paint scraper between the frame and sill of the kitchen window and finessed the latch open. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
LEFTY WRIGHT SLIPPED THE RUSTY blade of his trusty paint scraper between the frame and sill of the kitchen window and finessed the latch open. Read the first page
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Actually quite good,
By A Customer
This review is from: Clutching at Straws (Hardcover)
After the disastrous CATCHING WATER IN A NET, Mr. Abramo seems to have learned something. This time the cast of characters isn't so confusing (though it helps that they are listed at the front of the book), there's an interesting plot that not only makes sense this time but is really pretty exciting, and the description and sense of place are strong. Abramo does an admirable job of twisting some of the tried-and-true standards of the genre into something we can enjoy reading, and the characters are more than talking heads. I even started to like some of these guys: the educated burglar who gets framed, the never-do-well kid that Diamond employs just to keep him out of trouble (who turns out to be smarter than Diamond - or I - would have given him credit for), the wayward woman, the ex, the ex-father-in-law. . .Abramo creates an intriguing story line from the first hit-you-in-the-face chapter to the very end. The story doesn't bog down like the first one, the dialogue and action are crisp and true. Skip the first one and go straight to this. You won't be sorry.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dumb Luck,
By Billy G (New York City) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Clutching at Straws (Hardcover)
So here I am, it's nearly two in the morning, I leave a Jazz club on Bleecker Street because the cat on xylophone (vibes, man) is giving me a funny look. I grab a Sunday Times, carry it into Café Dante, and work on the crossword over a double espresso. They've got Joe Franklin on the radio, Memory Lane, and Joe is talking with this guy J. L. Abramo who writes Private Eye novels. I write it down in the margin of the magazine section. Following afternoon, I walk to the nearest bookstore, I won't name names, and find "Clutching at Straws", a signed copy if you can believe it. It's raining in New York City, which is all it ever does lately, and I read the thing in one sitting. You want a review, go to Publishers Weekly. You want advice, read this book.
4.0 out of 5 stars
action-packed murder mystery,
By
This review is from: Clutching at Straws (Hardcover)
Vic Vigoda hires Lefty Wright to steal a package from the safe of Judge Chancellor. Lefty grabs the job as the pay is great, $15K for under fifteen minutes to perform an easy heist. However when Lefty enters the bedroom with the safe, the murdered body of the judge greets him. Almost immediately two cops charge into the house and arrest Lefty for killing Chancellor.Lefty knows he is already in deep trouble, but adding to his woes is that the DA is running for office and sees this case as an easy media victory to further his ambitions. Lefty asks San Francisco private investigator Jake Diamond to learn why Vic would set him up to take the fall. Jake makes inquiries, but mostly concentrates on who owned a valuable Rolex found near the body. As he tries to learn the identity of the owner, he wonders about the motive. As he digs deeper into the case, bodies pile up as someone is bumping off anyone remotely related and potentially able to provide information that could free Lefty. Though readers will need a calculator to keep score of the corpses, fans of action-packed murder mysteries will enjoy this tale. The story line is loaded with non-stop hyper energy, as the audience will compute the correlation between alcohol drinking and homicides. Fans of mass homicide investigative tales will want to follow Diamond as he steps over bodies while making the rounds of the streets of San Francisco. Harriet Klausner
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