Sudden Exposure (Jill Smith Mystery) - Hardcover

Dunlap, Susan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0385310250 ISBN 13: 9780385310253

Publisher: Delacorte Press, 1996

Synopsis

From bestselling author Susan Dunlap comes this wry, indecently entertaining mystery involving politics, murder--and nudity.

Where else but in Berkeley, California, could naked protesters, competing health clubs, and ex-sixties radicals add up to murder?  And who else would find herself smack in the middle of this crisis than back-on-the-beat Detective Jill Smith, the beloved protagonist of seven previous Susan Dunlap mysteries?

During a protest of the recent city ordinance against nudity, Jill is called in to put a stop to a slew of naked protesters.  While she's at it, she runs into Bryn Wiley, founder of a local gym, who complains of vandalism, and suspects that the culprit is Sam Johnson, a hostile ex-sixties radical who owns a competing health club.  Jill starts to investigate, but is halted by a much larger crime: Bryn is shot at close range, and a lot of questions need to be answered.  Who shot Bryn and why?  What happened to all the idealists who are dropping their values and selling out?  And how is the irrepressible Jill Smith going to figure it all out?

About this title

From the Inside Flap

ling author Susan Dunlap comes this wry, indecently entertaining mystery involving politics, murder--and nudity.

Where else but in Berkeley, California, could naked protesters, competing health clubs, and ex-sixties radicals add up to murder? And who else would find herself smack in the middle of this crisis than back-on-the-beat Detective Jill Smith, the beloved protagonist of seven previous Susan Dunlap mysteries?

During a protest of the recent city ordinance against nudity, Jill is called in to put a stop to a slew of naked protesters. While she's at it, she runs into Bryn Wiley, founder of a local gym, who complains of vandalism, and suspects that the culprit is Sam Johnson, a hostile ex-sixties radical who owns a competing health club. Jill starts to investigate, but is halted by a much larger crime: Bryn is shot at close range, and a lot of questions need to be answered. Who shot Bryn and why? What happened to all t

Reviews

Berkeley, Calif., police officer Jill Smith, last seen in Time Expired, turns in another absorbing performance in a case that blends the colorful eccentricities of Berkeley and the drab procedures of law enforcement. Squabbles between aging radical Sam Johnson and former Olympic diver Bryn Wiley leave Jill "feeling like a playground monitor." Sam says Bryn has cut a hole in his fence, while Bryn says Sam has shot holes in her car windshield and is trying to run her health club out of business. Ellen Waller, Bryn's live-in cousin and employee, whose contribution to their home decor is a refinished confessional booth, seems to rise above the ruckus. Then a gunner targets Bryn's car again, killing the person sitting in it. As Jill prods Bryn's neighbors for information, she notices that few of the people surrounding her are exactly what they seem and that one, if background checks are reliable, doesn't even exist. Gradually determining that there's no grudge like an old grudge, Jill provides a stable center that keeps the story on course while its many suspects, who range from odd and harmless to odd and deadly, spin along in their own orbits. Author tour.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In an eighth outing, Jill Smith, the author's Berkeley-based policewoman (Time Expired, 1993, etc.), recently on Homicide detail, goes back to patrol duty when Detective Sergeant Brucker arrives from Sacramento and takes over her job. She's soon fielding complaints from Bryn Wiley, onetime Olympic team diver and owner of a fitness center called The Girls Team. Someone's been shooting out car windows in the driveway of the house in the hills she shares with her look-alike cousin and secretary Ellen Waller. Bryn accuses neighbor Sam Johnson, whose anarchistic leanings go way back. He's now married to Fanny, once another Olympic contender, now crippled. Sam has recently opened the Heat Exchange, in direct competition with The Girls Team. Vandalism escalates to murder when Ellen is found shot to death behind the wheel of Bryn's car. The case is complicated by Ellen's fabricated identity and by a connection to Bryn's other neighbor--Karl Pironnen, a recluse obsessed with dogs and chess. Jill, with crucial help from old friend and adversary Herman Ott, a local p.i., manages to bring the case to a close before Brucker even begins to get a handle on it. The author's affection for Berkeley's past and present eccentrics is clear. Most everything else here is a muddle-- uncompelling motives, contrived plot twists, and Jill's interminable inner musings. Lots of fuss; no fire. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Things are never quiet for Berkeley cop Jill Smith, who's been bounced out of the homicide squad and back to street patrol as the result of cop-shop politics. Jill has her hands full dealing with the "normal" lunacy of Berkeley--nude demonstrators who show up in the most unlikely spots, plus a former Olympic diver who's convinced she's being harassed by an ex-radical. Things turn ugly when the Olympian is shot, leaving Jill back in the thick of a murder investigation. A caring, dedicated cop, Smith is also a likably laid-back heroine with plenty of weaknesses: a confirmed chocoholic and a terrible housekeeper, she's also stubborn, softhearted, and prone to jealousy. This eighth entry in the series is a clear winner, thanks to an original plot, plenty of eccentric characters, and Dunlap's trademark breezy style. Emily Melton

Dunlap's California Detective Jill Smith (Time Expired, LJ 5/1/93) finds murder among ex-Sixties radicals.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Delacorte Press
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0385310250
• ISBN 13: 9780385310253
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 280