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Making her detecting debut in
Death of a Sunday Writer, Eric Wright's Lucy Trimble Brenner proves to be as adventurous as she is naive, leaping on the chance for dramatic life changes. When Lucy, having already traded a bad marriage for life as a small-town librarian and bed-and-breakfast proprietor, discovers that she's the sole heir to her recently deceased private-eye cousin, David, she quickly decides to take over his business--at least long enough to solve one mystery:
A man like Trimble, mixed up with the kind of people he knew, could never, in all Lucy's literary experience, have died accidentally. The fact that she had not found any particular reason why he might have been killed, could (and should) be turned on its head.
David Trimble's effects include a mystery manuscript that, Lucy suspects, is actually a fictionalized account of the dead dick's less-than-kosher activities. Meanwhile, the green gumshoe starts picking up some paying customers and finds out that she actually has a knack for sleuthing--even if she does make a few embarrassing goofs.
If Lucy's gung-ho introduction to the private investigation business seems somewhat improbable, Wright--best known for his Charlie Salter series, including The Last Hand--portrays the Toronto she seems destined to inhabit with gratifying accuracy, while Lucy's supportteam of newfound friends and associates sparkles with promise. Lucy makes her second appearance in Death on the Rocks. --Deirdre Hanna
From Booklist
Mustering her courage, Lucy Brenner has left her possessive husband, moved to a new city, and become a librarian. Now a long-forgotten cousin has died and left Lucy an unfinished novel and a moribund detective agency. Intrigued, Lucy decides to give up her library job and become a full-fledged detective. She's also determined to find out the truth behind her cousin's death. Meanwhile, she attracts several new cases involving missing heirs and agoraphobic women. Detective Lucy's most endearing qualities--and her greatest weaknesses--are her naiveteand her fertile imagination, which lead her to get the wrong end of the stick quite often. But she also has occasional flashes of brilliance, and by story's end, she's found a new beau and a new profession (a sad loss for librarianship!). Told with Wright's usual skill and gentle humor, this cleverly plotted mystery is fanciful fun, and Lucy Brenner is a one-of-a-kind delight.
Emily Melton
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
