cover image Hubbert and Lil: Partners in Crime

Hubbert and Lil: Partners in Crime

Gallagher Gray. Dutton Books, $18.95 (0pp) ISBN 978-1-55611-308-6

In this surprise-filled debut, T. S. Hubbert, recently retired personnel manager at a prestigious Wall Street bank, doesn't even have time to sleep off his farewell party hangover before his frantic former boss is on the phone. An executive at Sterling & Sterling has been stabbed to death, and T.S. must deal with press and public. Dismayed by the police lieutenant's tunnel vision, T.S. and his sleuthing sidekick, 84-year-old Auntie Lil, conduct their own investigation of this and two subsequent VIP murders. Sterling & Sterling is no unbesmirched institution, and the two energetic retirees discover ugly skeletons in the corporate closet. Shaky grammar and spotty characterization--while Auntie Lil is a delightfully feisty ``snoop sister,'' the portrait of T.S. lacks focus and credibility--weaken the superior plot in this first of projected series by a pseudonymous former employee of a Wall Street firm. (Dec.)