Perfect Cover - Hardcover

Chase, Linda; St. George, Joyce

2.83

12 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0786860014 ISBN 13: 9780786860012

Publisher: Hyperion, 1994

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Tina Paris, a half-Italian, half-Puerto Rican investigator, finds two sensational cases colliding as a killer cop goes on a murder spree through one of the city's toughest neighborhoods and a serial rapist taunts the police's public affairs department. Tour.

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From Kirkus Reviews:

A police uniform is the perfect cover in this taut, highly polished procedural, novelized from St. George's experiences in New York City as an undercover investigator for the NY State special prosecutor's office. St. George and TV writer Chase deftly intertwine three distinct cases. In one, Special Investigator Tina Paris goes after a street cop named Eddie Calvert, who, according to a witness, has a stake in a Bushwick, Brooklyn, card game and no qualms about roughing up those who'd prefer to place their bets elsewhere. Calvert goes too far one night and shoots to death a card player who won too much of his money. The body is reportedly locked in a freezer in the club's basement, but that's not what the police find there. In another case, Paris goes undercover as ``Julia Cipriani, aspiring Mafia moll''--in a slinky black number and spike heels--at a fundraiser for Assemblyman Neil Dandrell, who, along with his father, a state supreme court judge, is suspected of having syndicate connections. Paris lets herself get picked up by Al Randazzo, one of the hosts. Al and his cousins Sonny and Gus ``owned a couple of clubs out on the Island known for lively music'' and a highly suspect clientele. The third case involves a sadistic rapist who plays Russian roulette with his victims, pulling the trigger at climax. The New York press has a field day with one of the surviving women--``PRETTY BOY RAPIST FIRES BLANKS''--but a SoHo shop clerk isn't as fortunate. When the rapist starts faxing messages to the public relations department at One Police Plaza, a detective notices something vaguely familiar about the writer's phrasing and descriptive style. Disturbing realism and suspenseful, smooth writing make this a top-flight thriller. -- Copyright �1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Publishers Weekly:

This collaboration between Chase ( Hollywood on Main Street ) and St. George, a former investigator for the New York Special State Prosecutor, results in an action-packed debut likely to please procedural fans more than crime thriller devotees. Three plot lines, based, according to the authors, on St. George's actual experiences investigating corruption in New York's criminal justice system, are braided rather gracelessly. In the first, undercover investigator Tina Paris narrates events occurring as she, clad in little black dresses and spike heels, gathers evidence against a corrupt judge and politician. Another thread follows a serial rapist who sends taunting faxes to the police; he's young, good-looking and likes to play Russian roulette with his victims. The third and most convincing strand involves a battered woman living on welfare who has witnessed a rogue cop shoot a gambler to death, giving Paris and her team an opportunity to put away one very bad guy. The cases are brought to resolutions of varying satisfaction. Although the prose is streamlined, the action proceeds at a brisk clip and the methodology of the Special Prosecutor's Office is fully detailed, the narrative voice has a hollow, manufactured quality that diminishes the novel's impact. Author tour.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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