Set-Up - Hardcover

O'Callaghan, Maxine

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312064624 ISBN 13: 9780312064624

Publisher: St Martins Pr, 1991

Synopsis

Working for her high-profile, politically connected clients, scrappy private investigator Delilah West becomes caught between urban developers and environmental advocates

About this title

Reviews

Delilah West of Orange County, Calif., who appeared in the page-turner Hit and Run , has arrived; she now owns a detective agency, a new van with a telephone, and a condo. In this prime mystery, West's ever-growing list of clients expands to include political activist Bobbi Calder. Calder is accused of killing her young protegee, Sandy Renkowski, days after the two had a violent argument. Convinced that Calder is being framed, West turns up some suspects of her own, among them, a crooked politician whose scams Renkowski was covertly investigating and Renkowski's anonymous lover, who might have a pathological need for privacy. The number of suspects changes sharply when someone nearly kills West and succeeds in destroying her files on the case. Meanwhile, she uncovers crimes against the U.S. government that may put her in mortal danger. She also learns that her upper-income comforts have a very high price tag. Readers may guess whodunit and why early on, but O'Callaghan's polish and her eye for detail amply entertain in themselves.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Orange County investigator Delilah West (Hit and Run, 1989) returns, better fed, better bedded, but duller. Working undercover in County Supervisor Sam Newley's office, she fingers Sandy Renkowski for stealing the campaign contributions. Only Sandy's friend Bobbi Calder, Newley's nemesis over at Operation Slo-Grow (an anti-development group), thinks that Sandy was framed and that Delilah's a jerk. Still: Will Delilah find out who's been sending her letter bombs anyway? While Delilah's busy sorting through the planning commission machinations, the environmental issues, and through Bobbi's activist friends from the Sixties/Seventies (included Newley), Sandy is murdered. For politics or passion? Much silly analyzing later, a 20-tear resentment surfaces and the sobbing killer confesses. With her sass subdued, Delilah turns lumpen. Two-dimensional characters, plus predictable plotting, don't help much either. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: St Martins Pr
• Publication date: 1991
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0312064624
• ISBN 13: 9780312064624
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 199