"Bloomingdale's finest sleuth"

On the flight back from Minneapolis to La Guardia, private investigator Desiree Shapiro meets attorney Ben Berlin. Desiree was returning from her friend's wedding while Ben was heading to the funeral of his beloved Aunt Bessie Herman. The grieving Ben mentions that she fell down a set of stairs in her home breaking her neck.

Over a week later Ben calls Desiree to hire her to investigate the death of his aunt, whom he believes was murdered. He explains that NYPD Sergeant Spence stated that elderly women should not wear high heels; Ben says his aunt no longer wore high heels since breaking an ankle last year. Happy to have a paying client, Desiree questions the victim's younger son Joel, his fiancée Frankie, and his older brother Donnie. She touches base with Spence and treks across the Hudson to Aubrey, New Jersey where realtor Cliff Seymour detested the fact that Bessie refused to sell him some choice land there. Finally she discusses the situation with a long term friend of Bessie. As she digs deeper, Desiree agrees homicide occurred, but the killer hides amidst friends, family, and business cronies of the septuagenarian victim.

Readers will agree that chance enabled Desiree and Ben to fly to New York together, but it was his comment that she seemed too soft and feminine to be a PI as opposed to overweight that leads to their discussion on the plane and the case (the fee helped). The investigation is clever as Desiree ponders who might kill to obtain Aunt Bessie's assets even as she understands that as time vanishes, solving the case becomes increasingly problematic. With her personal life having a few spins too, fans will enjoy the latest Manhattan caper of Bloomingdale's finest sleuth.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted January 15, 2006

Summary

Flying home from a friend's wedding in Minneapolis, Desiree is seated alongside an attorney traveling to New York for a funeral. It seems his beloved Aunt Bessie died from a fall down the basement steps. Before long, however, the man begins to suspect that the accidental tumble wasn't any accident, and he prevails upon Manhattan's most warm- hearted and weighty PI to uncover the truth.

Desiree learns that a number of people might have been eager for Aunt Bessie to rest in peace, including her own son; his conniving, butter-wouldn't-melt-in-her-mouth fiancée; and a seventyish cousin who may—or may not—be harboring a bizarre secret. But it isn't only a crafty killer that Desiree's hoping to reel in. There's also her neighbor Nick, whose tepid relationship with Desiree finally starts to simmer...