Tuesday, December 8, 2009

A Good Knife's Work-Sheila York

A Good Knife's Work
Sheila York
Five Star, Jan 2010, $25.95
ISBN: 9781594148415

In 1946 Hollywood screenwriter Lauren Atwell and her boyfriend private investigator Peter Winslow flee the Los Angeles media for New York where she has obtained work on the popular radio serial Adam Drake, For Hire. However, the show is canceled when someone stabbed to death producer Hazel Keane in her locked door office on the eighth floor of the Emory Building.

Lauren uses a pseudonym to obtain work on the rival show Love Always whose offices is on the same floor in the same building as that of Adam Drake at the same the insurance company hires Peter to investigate. The pair uncovers several suspects with motives, but opportunity remains out of reach.

The latest Lauren Atwill historical mystery (see Starstruck Dead) is an enjoyable locked door whodunit that brings to life radio at a time when series were performed over the airwaves. The story line is fast-paced especially once the homicide occurs. With a terrific cast who brings alive radio just after WWII and mindful of Radioland Murders (even if that occurs prior to America’s entry into the war and is more a screwball comedy), A Good Knife Work is a well written super tale as much for its strong whodunit as its fabulous setting.

Harriet Klausner

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