From Publishers Weekly
The world of rare recordings and huge electrostatic stereo speakers is an unusual setting for the 10th appearance of Cincinnati PI Harry Stoner, seen before in the Shamus-winning Extenuating Circumstances. Though Stoner usually works his city's mean streets, this case has its beginnings in a cozier milieu. Mild, middle-aged Leon Tubin is missing some prized and valuable LPs. He's convinced that his fellow stereophile club member and all-around bigot Sherwood Leoffler is responsible and hires Stoner to prove it. After Stoner fends off Leon's unlikely companion Sheila, a former rock singer who has slept with a sizable portion of Ohio's male population, including most of the stereophiles, Leon is beaten while failing to protect her from a kidnapper. Stoner finds a cache of cash in their freezer, frozen assets that make the stolen records look like child's play and recast the likelihood of Sherwood's guilt. Rooting his story in crimes of the past, Valin calls on hard-hitting plotting and plenty of audio lore to yield a powerful conclusion that satisfyingly caps the story's gentler start.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--Ce texte provient de la
Hardcover
édition.
From Kirkus Reviews
Hired to investigate the theft of audiophile Leon Tubin's treasured LPs--really to pin it on rival collector Sherwood Loeffler- -Harry Stoner runs into a rash of felonies: the thief returns twice more (attacking Harry when he's caught in the act) before a final confrontation leaves Leon badly beaten and his longtime lover, rock singer Sheila Mozkowski, kidnapped. And there's more: Sheila, who's evidently been another shared passion among Leon's audiophile buddies, has had an enormous bankroll stashed in her freezer, and the guy who probably grabbed her, a rocker with the face of Richard Wagner, is wanted for murder. Taking Loeffler and street-musician Philo Ives (still another of Sheila's lovers) along for the ride, Harry tracks Sheila's old bandmate down to a Kentucky racetrack and a final, predictable twist. After the concentrated tension of Extenuating Circumstances and Second Chance, this is almost a holiday for Harry--but it's carried off with all Valin's customary professionalism. --
Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
--Ce texte provient de la
Hardcover
édition.
