Splitting Heirs (Adam McCleet Mysteries) - Hardcover

Hanson, Rick

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1575661942 ISBN 13: 9781575661940

Publisher: Kensington Books, 1997

Synopsis

The eccentric Salmon King of Oregon, Graden Porcelli hires ex-Marine, ex-cop, and struggling sculptor Adam McCleet to find out who among the people present during the viewing of Porcelli's videotaped will is a killer, with a share in his multimillion-dollar estate as his payment.

About this title

From Kirkus Reviews

The process server whom becalmed sculptor Adam McCleet has been avoiding isn't trying to repossess Adam's chattels; he's notifying him that he's due for a legacy under the terms of late salmon king Graden Porcelli's will. But the terms of the will- -Adam's due for equal shares with Porcelli's other six heirs if only he can get evidence that'll produce an indictment in an unsolved murder, victim and date unspecified--almost make Adam wish it had been a repo man on his doorstep. The sad fact is that the other six heirs--Porcelli's batty widow Amelia, his Tourette's-afflicted son Harrison, his dimwit nephew Sam, his quiet niece Tia, his salty old partner Tiger Jorgenson, and his veteran plant manager Whit Parkens--seem to have a very short shelf life, and as Adam's stake in the Porcelli fortune spurts up (it starts at $2.1 million and rises with each demise of his fellow-heirs), his chance of reaching payday approaches the vanishing point. Adam's only hope is to solve the 40-year-old murder of Porcelli's onetime benefactor Harold Mann--if Mann was murdered, if there's any evidence after all this time, if this is even the murder the salmon king had in mind. Meantime, Adam will have to contend with such minor setbacks as getting stuck with the Celebrity Hotel's Anthony Perkins room. Not as funny as Adam's first three cases (Still Life, 1996, etc.)--but the unaccustomed attention to the suspect heirs helps focus Hanson's bustling energy. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

When Graden Porcelli, the salmon king of Oregon, dies, ex-cop and struggling sculptor Adam McCleet is summoned to a reading of the eccentric multimillionaire's will. Via posthumous videotape, Porcelli explains to the half-dozen heirs that there is a killer among them, and he's hiring Adam to find out who it is. If Adam reveals the killer in less than 30 days, he will receive an equal share of the $15 million estate. Doubling Adam's workload is the task of discovering who was killed and when. The fourth McCleet mystery is as funny and cleverly plotted as its predecessors, but it also reveals a dark side of Adam, who reacts violently when he encounters a hired killer who refuses to talk. The dialogue is sharp, the characters wonderfully eccentric, and the Pacific Northwest setting an effective backdrop. Wes Lukowsky

Edition details

• Publisher: Kensington Books
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 1575661942
• ISBN 13: 9781575661940
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 234