cover image DEADLY ASSOCIATIONS: A Claudia Hershey Mystery

DEADLY ASSOCIATIONS: A Claudia Hershey Mystery

Laura Belgrave, . . Silver Dagger, $23.95 (220pp) ISBN 978-1-57072-248-6

Set in the central Florida backwater of Indian Run, Belgrave's third, often intense, sometimes funny Claudia Hershey mystery (after 2001's Quietly Deadly) opens with a bang, when the spunky detective blunders into a hostage crisis. Frustrated because the homeowners' association of his gated community, Willow Whisper, won't repaint his house and pour a new patio, Steven Hemmer lures four members of the association to his house, ties them up and holds them at gunpoint—then calls the cops to facilitate. Just as Claudia is about to disarm the hothead, the president of Willow Whisper, Bill Bonolo, gets loose and stabs Hemmer to death. Swaggering in front of the TV cameras, Bonolo takes all the credit for dispatching their captor. Angered by the slight, Claudia presses hard for information about the gated community's dealings, incurring Bonolo's wrath and that of his buddy, the mayor. The plot meanders in the middle, not helped by the intermittent squabbling between Claudia and her twin sister, but Claudia's battle of wits against a crew of no-goodniks ultimately reaches an exciting climax. (Aug. 1)

Forecast:Backed by favorable newspaper reviews of previous books in the series, Silver Dagger is mounting a concerted campaign (first chapter excerpts at BEA, press kits and ARCs to independents in the Book Sense program, etc.) to push sales to a new level. But without the endorsement of a big name or two, it may be a long while before Claudia rivals Kinsey Millhone, who sets the standard for hard-boiled female investigators.