She Came by the Book (Emma Victor Mystery) - Softcover

Mary Wings

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0704344327 ISBN 13: 9780704344327

Publisher: The Women's Press, 1995

Synopsis

'The chief archivist looked very ill indeed. Her face had paled as she leaned back into her chair... soon Tracy was surrounded by tuxedos, her body jerking spasmodically, a puppet with invisible strings that some horrible force jerked without pity. Her fingernails, I noticed, were turning blue...'

It's been twenty years since Emma Victor's former boss, the flamboyant politician Howard Blooming, was assassinated. Now she's promised to deliver his private papers and their secrets into safekeeping. The opening of the Howard Blooming Memorial Archive seems to provide Victor with a golden opportunity. But her mission is soon placed in deadly jeopardy when the chief archivist suddenly succumbs to cyanide poisoning...

About this title

From Kirkus Reviews

California State Representative Howard Blooming was assassinated 20 years ago, but he just won't stay dead. Hours after Emma Victor, his former press secretary, agrees to carry a bundle of his confidential papers over to San Francisco's brand- new Howard Blooming Lesbian and Gay Memorial Archive, she's mugged by a pair of toughs who may have been looking for the papers; then, when she finally gets to the archive gala--without her departed live-in lover Frances Cohen, and wearing the same dress as archive director Tracy Port--she has to watch Tracy die of poison (in error for Emma?). And that's just the beginning of the weekend. Once Emma tells chiropractor Lee Turgo she'll help prove that Lee's longtime companion, mystery writer Helen Thomas, didn't poison Tracy in revenge for her coming on to Lee, she's bought into an investigation that'll have her getting her nose pierced, making treacherously close new friends, dialing 911 twice more to report dead bodies--and uncovering motives lurking in those papers for everybody from Blooming's long-lost terrorist cousin to his long-dead assassin to kill again. Refreshingly nasty in its riotous view of San Francisco's gay upper crust--though Emma's third (She Came in a Flash, 1989, etc.) presents so many suspects guilty about everything except their sexual preferences that they practically have to take numbers. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Publishers Weekly

San Francisco legal investigator Emma Victor stumbles into trouble at the inaugural gala for the Lesbian and Gay Archive. The glitterati are all on hand for the ceremonies, which come to an abrupt halt when the archive's executive director, Tracy Port, digs into her cyanide-laced potatoes. The poison seems to have been carried in the amulet worn by prominent mystery writer Helen Thomas, who certainly had a motive: Tracy was making moves on Helen's partner. Retained by Helen's lawyer, Emma tracks down Gurl Jesus, the young photographer who recorded the gala, in the hope that the photos will show the poison being added to dinner. Gurl Jesus sets a merry chase that includes a stop in a piercing parlor, but by the time Emma finds her, Gurl Jesus is dead and the Polaroids are missing. Only after a third murder does Emma realize the killer's identity, in a denouement that will surprise even a reader accustomed to the gender-bending ways of the lesbian and gay community. Lambda Literary Award winner Wings (Divine Victim) is too generous with false leads, and some of her characters are cliched (a notable exception is a Gertrude Stein scholar who offers a very clear reading of at least one piece of Stein's difficult prose). And while the plot evinces some gaps, this remains a compelling story, featuring a tremendously likable sleuth in a sharply etched milieu.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: The Women's Press
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0704344327
• ISBN 13: 9780704344327
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 199