A Fine Italian Hand - Hardcover

Wright, Eric

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0385253710 ISBN 13: 9780385253710

Publisher: Doubleday Canada, 1992

Synopsis

Inspector Charlie Salter is back, and mystery fans will rejoice. Everybody loves Charlie, especially when he gets himself involved in a murder case that's sure to cause trouble for him and for the Toronto police. Actor Alec Hunter has been found knifed and strangled at the none-too-elegant Days 'R' Done Motel, the kind of place where drug deals and hour-long rentals are common and almost-famous clients are rare. What was Alec doing in such a sleazy place? And who was the Italian-looking gentleman who registered for the room? The police first assume that the mob has disposed of Alec to settle some gambling debts. But the mob denies the charge, and Italians in general are outraged at the suggestion. Charlie's job is to calm the community and find the killer. Alec had borrowed a thousand dollars from his girlfriend on Sunday night, and had next gone to visit his great-aunt at a nursing home. After that, the movements that led to his death at the seedy motel are a mystery. Charlie's concentration is not helped by an apparently serendipitous encounter with an old would-be girlfriend. He knew Julie Peters more than thirty years ago, and her reappearance reminds him of some unanswered questions left from their past. Wife Annie is away, so Charlie has time and opportunity to investigate both Alec Hunter's death and Julie's reappearance. Once again, it is Charlie Salter who is at the heart of award-winning author Eric Wright's novel. Salter begins this time in the grip of a powerful nostalgia, but he is policeman enough to pay attention to the small details that lead him to a killer.

About this title

From Kirkus Reviews

The ninth outing for personable Charlie Salter (Final Cut, A Sensitive Case, etc.) of the Toronto police finds him coping with the stabbing/garrotting slaying of actor Alec Hunter in a lakeside motel. Although Hunter was rumored to be a heavy gambler, the feelers that Charlie sends out indicate that Hunter was not killed by the mob over IOUs. What then? Turns out, Hunter said he was going to the track to cover up his trysts at the motel. With whom? Cast members have no idea, but as Charlie checks out previous performances, he uncovers a suicide that occurred while Hunter was playing Brighton. Further investigation reveals that it may have been murder rather than suicide, and Charlie now has two cases on his hands. Moreover, while trying to discover who took the secobarb pills from the dead actress's room, Charlie locates another beauty in Hunter's past--a blackmailer who bled him dry--and a good deed that may have killed him. A bit more intricate a plot than usual, and a nifty one at that, enlivened by a bittersweet encounter with an old girlfriend while wife Annie is off on Prince Edward Island. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Publishers Weekly

In his ninth appearance (the most recent was Final Cut ), Toronto police inspector Charlie Salter has a hard time focusing on the case of a murdered actor. Salter is suffering either from spring fever (he keeps smelling nonexistent lilacs) or a midlife crisis: his thoughts turn often to aging and death while his wife is away on Prince Edward Island tending her father, who has had a stroke. Actor Alec Hunter was stabbed and garroted in a sleazy lakefront hotel; evidence points to a mob-style rubout. Connie Spurling, who was the victim's possessive lover and agent, says she had given him $1000 to pay his gambling debts, a suspiciously small sum to lead to murder. Meanwhile, Salter must also deal with the bribery charge made against a new friend in the gambling squad, and with the dilemma of Sgt. Ranovic, whose pregnant girlfriend is resisting his suit of marriage in favor of remaining a single mother. The agreeable Charlie penetrates a web of deceit to link this case to the earlier death of an actress. But the contrived plot falters due to undeveloped characters and a notable lack of suspense.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Doubleday Canada
• Publication date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0385253710
• ISBN 13: 9780385253710
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 192