Appearance Of Evil - Softcover

Carolyn Coker

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0373261853 ISBN 13: 9780373261857

Publisher: Worldwide Library, 1995

Synopsis

Too absorbed in her museum restoration project to get involved with a murder investigation, Andrea Perkins leaves the case in the hands of two LAPD detectives, until one of the museum's board members is targeted. Reprint.

About this title

From Kirkus Reviews

Upscale San Marino, California, is perfectly safe, of course- -as everyone rushes to assure visiting art-restorer Andrea Perkins (The Balmoral Nude, 1990)--and surely the dead body of the naked alcoholic found on the premises of the Huntington museum was not the work of a resident. But Detectives Lopez (a macho Latino) and Robeson (a stickler-for-protocol black woman) investigate anyhow and soon put a name to the deceased: Bryan Anderson--who, years before, had romanced Andrea's hostess Georgene, then married and been divorced by her sister Sarah. When confronted by the detectives, Sarah confesses to killing him. But did she, or is she lying to protect her son, whom she suspects may have done the deed? Andrea befriends the terrified young boy--a gifted artist, who, it turns out, was not the murderer but merely an eyewitness to it- -before a wrap-up that comes just in time for Andrea and her boyfriend, Italian cop Aldo Balzani, to spend some nights together. Andrea has too little to do here, and the silly and unconvincing Lopez and Robeson too much. Sluggish and disappointing after Balmoral. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Publishers Weekly

Top-notch characterization, authoritative use of setting and an accelerating pace more than make up for this mystery's slow start. In the pristine, fenced garden of a Los Angeles museum, a vandal defaces a statue and a homeless man is shot. Murder and vandalism are nothing new to L.A. residents, but these crimes take place in San Marino, an upscale suburban-like enclave. LAPD plainclothes detectives Tina Roberson and Eduardo Lopez learn that the victim had been a chronic gambler, called Goochie after the Gucci shoes he favored. Meanwhile art restorer Andrea Perkins (seen last in The Balmoral Nude ), arrives at the museum to recondition Gainsborough's Blue Boy , and winds up sharing guest quarters with the other primary players in the case. Coincidence abounds as Andrea figures in the detectives' pursuit of the killer, but readers willing to accept the plot's occasional stretches will be rewarded by Coker's deft portraits, especially that of Roberson, a black woman working in a Latino neighborhood.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Worldwide Library
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0373261853
• ISBN 13: 9780373261857
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 250