Except for the Bones

Private sleuth Alan Bernhardt comes to the aid of Diane Cutler, who had stumbled upon her hated stepfather, Preston Daniels, in the process of disposing of a corpse

Using a gripping minute-by-minute, day-by-day format, Wilcox (Silent Witness) charts the downfall of New York real estate tycoon Preston Daniels, first encountered on Cape Cod at the scene of his mistress's accidental death. College freshman Diane Cutler and her boyfriend see Daniels, her despised stepfather, carrying a body to the local landfill. After the boyfriend attempts blackmail and is badly beaten, the terrified Diane flees to San Francisco to stay with a friend, who tries to persuade PI Alan Bernhardt to take on Diane as a client and protect her. Bernhardt claims he is too busy, so his actress girlfriend Paula takes on the job. Paula saves Diane from an attacker, but darker events are in store: after the frightened girl learns of her boy friend's death, she overdoses on drugs. Swearing to find out and expose what Diane knew, Alan travels to Cape Cod to investigate. Wilcox delivers a taut, suspenseful mystery with credible dialogue and good local color.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Book three in the author's Alan Bernhardt series (Silent Witness, 1990; Bernhardt's Edge, 1988) has a token appearance by Frank Hastings, SFPD, and a practically invisible Bernhardt, who merely hovers at the edges of his case: to find out who wealthy, powerful real-estate mogul Preston Daniels was carting to the Cape Cod dump in a garbage bag. Daniels's stepdaughter, the unattractive, unloved Diane Cutler, spied on the dump run, as did her drug-supplier/sometime-lover Jeff. When Jeff dies ``accidentally'' and someone starts stalking her after she's hotfooted it cross-country for safety, Diane admits she's scared, and Bernhardt steps in--just as Daniels's personal pilot/hit-man and a crooked Cape police chief demand bigger silence payoffs. Which of Daniels many blond bimbo mistresses got dumped? Did his wife know, or even care? How many times will Daniels kill to keep the first death a secret? At least once--before Bernhardt, the tycoon, the pilot, and the sheriff collide in a dark, smelly corner of the landfill. No surprises, just steady, quiet narration professionally humming to an inevitable conclusion. A civilized way to be scared. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Detective Alan Burchardt looks into the suspicious death of a New York real estate tycoon's latest girlfriend--a death secretly witnessed by the man's estranged stepdaughter in Cape Cod.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.