Category: Mystery
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN-13:9780345478118
Series: Faye Quick, #1
Pub. Date: June 2006 (reprint)
Date Read: September 2008
"I didn't start out to be a private eye. I thought I was gonna be a secretary - get my boss his java in the morning, take letters, and so on. Hell, I didn't get my degree in steno to put my life on the line. It was true I wanted an interesting job, but that I'd end up a PI myself... it never entered my mind."
Faye Quick didn't expect to become a P.I. overnight but that's what happens when her boss, Woody Mason, is called off to war and she's left manning his agency. She's been able to handle things well but now her first big case will involve some wealthy clients and the body of a woman Faye stumbled upon one snowy day.
Claudette West was found dead on an empty New York street one morning but despite her parent's wealth and connections, her killer hasn't been found. The West family hire Faye but Mr. West is sure that it's Claudette's boyfriend who killed her and he just needs Faye to confirm this.
Faye isn't so sure that Richard Cotten, the boyfriend, is the killer. Sure, he's not on the same social level as Claudette but just because she broke off their relationship doesn't mean that he's a killer right? As Faye delves deeper into Claudette's life she finds that the family didn't know their daughter all that well, or at the very least they want to cover up some of the socialite's indiscretions.
To help uncover the lies and associations Claudette had with others, Faye will ask her best friend and psychic, Anne Fontaine for some assistance, and she'll also rely on Marty Mitchum, another P.I. As she finds more clues into Claudette a longer lists of suspects starts to accumulate. There's a shady aunt, an impostor and even a strange neighbor who all have something against Claudette.
While at first you may wonder how a woman who was only supposed to be a secretary could all of a sudden go to running a detective agency, I think the author shows us just how vulnerable Faye can be, and at the same time she's smart enough to have learned a lot from her boss and she's smart enough to know when she needs to ask for help. I think that helped make this storyline believable.
Aside from some cool characters and one fantastic P.I, this novel is bursting with atmosphere. Faye makes reference to the food rations that were in place during the war years, the fashions she sports, and you can't help but feel as if you are right there with her having beer at Chumley's or walking along a street in Greenwich Village. Great start to a series.