A Fine Italian Hand: An Inspector Charlie Salter Novel

Book by Wright, Eric

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.