Practice to Deceive (Holland Taylor Mystery)

Practice to Deceive (Holland Taylor Mystery)

St. Paul investigator Holland Taylor finds himself pursued by a hired killer when he tries to recover money for an elderly woman cheated out of her life savings and must untangle a complicated web involving prominent people and large investments. At first, reading about Holland Taylor might seem like déjà vu. He's a former cop turned private detective; he has an African American associate who covers his back, a high-level friend on the police force, and a smart lady who tries to keep him on the straight path. He also practices martial arts, brews exotic coffee, and favors a special brand of local beer. But author David Housewright isn't doing a Spenser rip-off; he's just having fun telling a good story while ringing a few changes on Robert Parker. Taylor works out of Minnesota's Twin Cities, a long way from Spenser's Boston, and Housewright's plot is as open-faced as his genial homage. Asked by his father to help an 85-year-old neighbor recover the life savings stolen from her by an oily investment counselor, Taylor uses a cross-dressing computer genius to harass the swindler. Things quickly turn nasty and lots of shots are fired--some are deadly. Housewright's Edgar Award-winning first book about Taylor, Penance , is available in paperback. When you're in business to bilk sweet old widows out of their life savings, you deserve whatever happens to you. So when St. Paul shamus Holland Taylor's parents ask him to go after the $287,000 that trusting Irene Gustafson gave to investments counselor Levering Field, and when Field and his smiling attorney Monica Adler tell Taylor that Mrs. Gustafson will be dead long before a court ever orders him to pay her a penny--and besides, he's prudently placed all his assets in his teenaged daughter's name--he figures he's well within his rights in ruining Field's life. And that's what he and his cross-dressing computer-expert friend Steve (a.k.a. Sara) VanderTop set out to do. Some of their harassments are ingenious, others merely satisfyingly petty, but soon they've got Field crying uncle. Sadly, that's practically the last thing he does cry before Taylor, followed closely by the cops, stumbles over his dead body. Homicide chief Lt. Anne Scalasi turns Taylor loose when he can prove an alibi, but his troubles are just beginning. For one thing, somebody's shooting at him, too--and with the same .32 that killed Field; for another, he's getting a double dose of all the dirty tricks, from unwanted pizza deliveries to threatening phone calls, that he pulled on Field. With Field dead, who could be looking for revenge? And who could possibly want both Field and Taylor dead? Housewright follows up his Edgar-winning debut (Penance, 1995) with a greased-lightning tale of scam and counterscam that's still bubbling merrily when the fat lady sings. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. ... when he isn't knocking himself out to be cute, he proves that he can think for himself and work like a pro. If his fond author ever lets him grow up, the kid might yet have a career in this genre. -- The New York Times Book Review, Marilyn Stasio David Housewright lives in St. Paul, Minnesota. Used Book in Good Condition