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Overview
After a successful career as a New York attorney, retired Martha Patterson stays busy doing freelance legal research and providing pro bono advice to the needy. It is a life that is proving both fascinating...and dangerous.Her closest friend, Hannah Good, is the victim of a break-in. Hannah survives a blow to the head, but her assistant is not so lucky. In addition, Hannah's celebrated new maquette, a small-scale model of a large piece of artwork, is savagely destroyed.
While immediate suspicion falls upon another sculptor whose violent, emotional nature lends itself to a clear motive, Martha puts her legal mind to work, seeing the fine print in a crime that leads far from the murder scene to the tragic past of a young woman and the dark places of love, loss, and revenge.
Editorials
Publishers Weekly -
Sixty-three-year-old former lawyer Martha Patterson, back for her second civilized foray as an amateur sleuth (after Death in Good Company), feels the tension between artists at a reception in her friend Hannah Gold's Brooklyn studio. On display are a model--maquette--of Hannah's entry in a Minnesota competition and pieces by Hannah's new assistant, Kent Reed. Later that evening Martha receives an almost incoherent phone call from a hysterical Hannah. After promising to get help, Martha learns that someone has not only attacked Hannah in her studio and ruined her maquette but killed Kent. Shocked, she can't help wondering about Hannah's rival for the competition, Dennie Simm, and his wife, Olive, whose eyes seemed to have followed Kent all evening. Could either of them have wreaked such havoc? Martha later finds incriminating evidence against both of them: Kent had just broken off an affair with a still-smitten Olive, while Olive had been seen near the studio after the reception. But why would jealous husband Dennie or spurned lover Olive harm Hannah and her art? Following through all the leads, Martha arrives at an answer that should please if not wholly surprise readers of this almost bloodless cozy. (Feb.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|Library Journal
Sedate and determined. like the prose that portrays her, retired New York attorney Martha Patterson attends an art show at the sudio of Hannah, her agin but up-and-coming artist best friend. Early the next morning, however, someone clobbers Hannah, trashes her fabric sculpture, and kills her assistant. Martha rescues her friend, touches base with Detective Sharpman (Death in Good Company), then begins her own methodical investigation into the rivalries and jealousies of the city's art world. Quiet humor and a good story; good for most collections.Book Details
Published
March 1, 2001
Publisher
Worldwide Library
Pages
251
Format
Paperbound
ISBN
9780373263783