From Publishers Weekly
This 22nd John Putnam Thatcher financial mystery is an enjoyable--and understandable--puzzler drawing on the intricacies of corporate mergers. When ASI, an upscale, stratified water fixture manufacturer, begins merger negotiations with the mom-and-pop Ecker operation, ASI assistant division manager Victor Hunnicut fears he may soon be squeezed out. To get in on the action, he finagles a way to stand in for his boss in the negotiations but then makes a mess of his tour of Ecker, giving himself airs and spreading unsubstantiated rumors about internal dissension at both ASI and Ecker. Soon after the tour, the building that housed Ecker's financial records and test lab files goes up in flames and Hunnicut is murdered at the annual trade show. Thatcher, a senior vice-president at Wall Street's Sloan Guaranty Trust, which oversees Ecker's finances, works with the police to unravel the numerous scams and schemes. Even readers who don't understand merger financing will enjoy this inside look (Emma Lathen is a pen name shared by an economist and a lawyer), the brisk, smart dialogue and the credible solution to the crime.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
The pseudonymous pair known as Emma Lathen slide with practiced ease into another Wall Street mystery featuring banker John Thatcher of Sloan Guaranty Trust. When a Princeton manufacturing firm represented by a sister bank targets a Sloan family-owned business client for takeover, Thatcher monitors the ensuing negotiations. Friction erupts into fracas, however, when rumors fly, financial records burn, and possible industrial sabotage culminates in murder. Smoothly done, well put together, and very appealing: just as the title indicates.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
