Amateur Night: A Jane Da Silva Mystery - Hardcover

Beck, K. K.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0892964804 ISBN 13: 9780892964802

Publisher: Mysterious Press, 1993

Synopsis

The homicide case that convicted young Kevin Shea and sent him to the slammer looked hopeless - and the perfect puzzle for Jane da Silva. Under the terms of an eccentric uncle's will, Jane has to right a wrong and solve an uncrackable conundrum twice a year before she can inherit the estate. With her fortieth birthday looming in the not-so-distant future and a so-so career as a cabaret singer in the fast-fading past, Jane has both an unslaked champagne taste and a willingness to risk her pretty neck snooping where nice girls don't...and earn her inheritance the hard way.
As for Kevin Shea, he has had one foot firmly planted in trouble all his life. Formerly a pill-head and going-nowhere teenager, he graduated to armed robbery at a local drugstore, botching the attempt and leaving a woman dead. Kevin says he didn't shoot her. Even his own mother doesn't believe him and the DA tagged it an open and shut case. All Jane has to reopen it is a call from Kevin's lawyer. It seems there's a remote possibility that a key witness exists - somewhere.

About this title

Reviews

Jane da Silva, "a kind of nonprofit detective" in Seattle, returns in a delightful follow-up to A Hopeless Case . In order to inherit her Uncle Harold's money, now held by the trustees of his Foundation for Righting Wrongs, Jane has to solve another "hopeless case" (the trustees "bounced her first effort on a technicality"). The conviction of Kevin Shea appears to fit the bill. As Jane's lawyer-pal Calvin Mason tells her, Kevin was found guilty of killing Betty Cox in the pharmacy she ran in downtown Seattle; his delinquent past convinced everyone he was guilty. But now one of the jurors remembers seeing a magazine on the floor in one of the crime-scene photos, suggesting there may have been a witness who fled after the murder. Then Jane stumbles on the body of Jennifer Gilbert, whose prescription Mrs. Cox was typing when she was shot; the second death lends more plausibility to Kevin's innocence. While tracking Jennifer's roommate, Jane discovers she isn't alone in her search; when her tires are slashed twice, she realizes the killer is on her trail. A likable heroine and gripping suspense laced with humor distinguish this enjoyable mystery.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Mysterious Press
• Publication date: 1993
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0892964804
• ISBN 13: 9780892964802
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 279