Synopsis
Forced to retire from the department under a cloud of suspicion, Detective Colin Harpur's colleague, Hubert Scott, concocts a scheme that will clear his name--one that is related to the kidnapping of underworld informant Bernard "Tenderness" Mellick's eleven-year-old son
Reviews
A well-preserved, months-old corpse found in a community college classroom poses an irresistible mystery for Penelope Spring and Sir Tobias Glendower, recently made a Dame and a baronet for saving the British prime minister's life (in The Catacomb Conspiracy ). In Hyannisport, Mass., to visit their children and grandchildren (Toby's daughter is married to Penny's son), Penny and Sir Toby find their family time cut short by a bout of chicken pox. Looking for something to do, they agree to the urgings of none-too-bright Chief of Police Ernie Birnie, who wants them to find out why Clara Bacon, a teacher and community activist, was not reported missing in the several months after her death. Going their separate ways, Penny and Toby investigate which among Clara's causes may have led to her murder. Real-estate speculation, the raising of a sunken treasure ship and the claims of local Indians all provide tantalizing clues. Rejecting the chief's two prime suspects, the two sleuths propose a solution of their own and a hair-raising plan to prove it. Arnold's academic odd couple remain as literate and sophisticated as ever, although the small-town setting here doesn't show them off as well as did the metropolitan milieus of previous volumes.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Detective Superintendent Colin Harpur (Halo Parade, The Lolita Man, etc.) is again enmeshed in departmental politics: this time out, he discovers that if he wants to protect one of his snitches- -as well as a just-retired on-the-take pal from the force--he may have to endanger the life of gangster ``Tenderness'' Mellick's slow-witted young son, who was kidnapped by rival gang members. Harpur is soon stitching together a bogus story about corruptly rich Scott's undercover work that demanded he accept payoffs, while also trying to track down Mellick's son and prevent Mellick himself from pulling off a robbery to get the ransom money. Meanwhile, gang members are tossed from cars, buried in barns, and the few who are left have it in for the cops. Using information from his snitch and from Scott, and deftly planting evidence, Harpur saves a few reputations while continuing to sully his own--but it'll be up to young Mellick to rescue himself. Morals that would make a civil libertarian wince, but nonetheless a believable portrait of a longtime cop who thinks some crimes need to be punished more than others. Plus: a clever, if gloomy, spin on protecting one's mates. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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