The King of Nothing: A Fiddler and Fiora Mystery - Softcover

Maxwell, A. E.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0061042307 ISBN 13: 9780061042300

Publisher: Harpercollins, 1994

Synopsis

Fed up with the bumbling probe into the murder of an old friend in the Pacific Northwest, Fiddler and Fiora turn sleuth to investigate a Japanese samurai sword that becomes the target of the State Department, the Japanese government, and the yakuza

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

The seventh Fiddler mystery (after Money Burns ) is smooth, fast-paced, intricate and ultimately quite satisfying. Narrator/PI Fiddler visits with 75-year-old mentor Rory Cairns on the Washington State coast while Fiora, Fiddler's ex-wife and present lover, negotiates the sale of her California securities business to a Japanese investment firm. Rory, who has named Fiora his heir and given Fiddler an ancient samurai sword, is fatally injured after an apparent burglary. Fiddler and Fiora--who has joined him, planning to finalize her deal in Seattle--are sure of foul play. In Seattle, Fiora's deal turns sour and Fiddler's dealings with a sleazy Japanese businessman, an old martial arts master and various Pike Place hustlers convince him that the sword is extremely valuable and the cause of all the skulduggery. He sets a trap on Rory's boat in a Pacific storm that endangers him and Fiora. Fiercely independent and interdependent, Fiddler and Fiora are attractive leads; Maxwell (actually husband-and-wife team Anne and Evan) captures the slightly goofy sleaze of Seattle's First Avenue nicely.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews:

Trouble follows a cursed Japanese samurai sword that Rory Cairns brought home from the war--and left to his adventurer/detective friend Fiddler (Money Burns, etc.) on his abrupt demise. After the local yokels in Malahat, Washington, read Fiddler his Miranda rights, and he and his intimate ex Fiora (now struggling to break loose from the grind by selling off her securities firm, Pacific Rim, to big fish Roniko Nakamichi) wonder whether Rory was killed in mistake for Fiddler, buzzards begin to circle the sword: smooth-talking gallery owner Mark Oshima; rough-edged FBI agent Francis X. Claherty; an elderly Japanese mugger; and, inevitably, Nakamichi himself. Despite lots of bloodletting--most of the interesting characters, and quite a few of the boring ones, die in short order--and some good fishing sequences, nothing much happens in this laid-back battle of cunning half-wits. Fiddler shines as he struts his stuff, but too many yakuzas spoil the sushi. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harpercollins
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0061042307
• ISBN 13: 9780061042300
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 307