Book 76, 2018

[chez_jae]

Death Turns a Trick by Julie Smith

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Wednesday night, I stayed up a tad late to finish reading Death Turns a Trick by Julie Smith. It is the first book in the "Rebecca Schwartz" mystery series, featuring nice Jewish lawyer Rebecca Smith.

Ever since she began representing some prostitutes in legal cases, Rebecca has become friends with Elena, who owns an under-the-radar brothel. On an evening when Elena is hosting a lavish party for would-be clients, she talks Rebecca into playing the piano at the event. Reluctant at first, Rebecca soon finds herself having a good time. That is, until the police raid. Suddenly, she is tasked by Elena to sneak a senator out of the house, using Elena's sports car. The plan is working, until Rebecca side-swipes another car, the senator bails, and she gets hauled into the police station. The evening goes from bad to worse when she returns home to find her apartment ransacked and a dead prostitute on the floor.

When the police seem eager to pin the murder on Rebecca's new beau, she begins doing some investigating of her own. In no time at all, Rebecca's tame life is turned on its head, mob connections are suspected, and family secrets are revealed. It's a good thing she's one tough cookie.

This book was hilarious! Rebecca is a hoot, and her wry observations had me chuckling as I read. I didn't realize until later, but the book was written in 1982. It was odd to see Rebecca dragging out ye olde phone book to make calls, and getting a busy signal when she tried to call someone else. I think, in this day and digital age, there would have no mystery, if there had been a crime at all. Still, it added to the fun factor.

Favorite lines:
♦ A citizen likes to think her elected officials have at least a minimal amount of brains in their tiny heads, whatever their sexual proclivities, but this guy had fried eggs.
♦ After absorbing death and ransacking, my quicksilver brain hopped right on to the next subject: the whereabouts of the murderer. He might still be in the apartment, and it wasn't big enough for both of us.
♦ It's pretty awful to find a corpse in your apartment, but you can't help being curious if it's safely next door.
♦ Sunday morning dawned as clear and crisp as the Saturday before it. At least I assumed it did. It was like that when I got up at ten.
♦ "Breakfast, Rebecca," I hollered cheerfully. "Rise and shine. Don't want your eggs to get cold." "Oh you sweet thing!" I answered. "You really shouldn't have. Just look at those eggs!" Whoever said living alone is lonely?

Delightful book, and I'll look for more in the series. Giving it a solid four.

Comments

[spindle_ella]

Adding this one to my wishlist :D

[chez_jae]

It was a fun book! I loved Rebecca's wit and moxie.