Product Description

Performing as a lounge singer between assignments, Jane da Silva stumbles on the case of a murdered hostess at a seafood convention, which brings her to the Arctic Circle, Scotland's Shetland Islands, and Seattle on her quest to find a killer. By the author of Amateur Night.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3296853 in Books
• Published on: 1995-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 294 pages

From Publishers Weekly
As readers familiar with her first three appearances know, Seattle's Jane da Silva (A Hopeless Case) is the beneficiary of a loopy trust: she gets money from her uncle's estate as long as she solves crimes for people who can't afford to hire a PI. Once through the slow opening chapters, readers will hook onto a sharp-witted puzzler with an abundance of red herrings (and salmon and cod) that will keep them guessing to the last page. Having taken a gig as a lounge singer in a tacky local hotel, Jane is entertaining a group from the salmon industry, in town for the international seafood show, when the earnest young reporter for Seafood Now bursts into the room screaming that there's a dead woman in her bathtub. Jane's subsequent investigation takes her to Norway and the Shetland Islands. Throughout, Jane remains good-natured while enjoying the absurdity around her as Beck offers a worldly tour of the fishing industry and environmental shenanigans before concluding this solid work with an unexpected, gleefully cynical climax.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Jane da Silva, the Seattle private eye whose inheritance limits her investigations to desperate, "unsolvable" cases only, looks into the death of a young seafood convention hostess. Roving from northern cod-fishing grounds to the Shetland Islands and back, Jane learns of sabotage, deceptive business practices, and further murder.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
In her fourth outing, Beck's Jane da Silva faces her most challenging and unique case yet. Multitalented sometime-sleuth Jane is trying to make a few easy bucks singing at a Seattle seafood convention when one of the young women hired to play hostess to the piscatory crowd is murdered. The circumstances are fishy, to say the least, and the police are getting nowhere, so Jane takes matters into her own hands, posing as a writer for the leading fish journal, touring briny seafood plants, and ingratiating herself with the fishing industry's best and brightest to find out who killed the seemingly innocent hostess. There's plenty of humor and more than one unexpected surprise as Jane, in her usual no-nonsense manner, gets to the bottom of things. In other hands, this story could have been just plain silly, but the combination of Beck's clever plotting, unique heroine, smooth style, and fine, understated humor earn Cold Smoked a thumbs-up for fun. Emily Melton

Customer Reviews

There Must Be Easier Ways for a Heroine to Earn a Living
I haven't read any of the previous books, so I don't know how this one compares to them. The author's skill with descriptions was enough to make me share the heroine's emotions (after listening to all those salmon pushers -- and thank goodness we have only a hint of their burblings -- I'd be wanting to sink my teeth into some beef, too). Beck does as good job with the minor characters as with the main. I admire the way the obnoxious or boring characters were brought to sufficient life that I wanted to sneak away from them. The comments about Americans who try to force their own views on the rest of the world were appreciated.

Too bad the woman whose boyfriend dumped her before she got around to dumping him allowed herself to feel depressed. There's no need for that. I've had one of those calls. When the guy asked me if I minded, I referred to his new girlfriend as my savior. (No, that didn't start a feud. They've been married for years and we're all friends.)

Sampling an author's work for the first time is always a risk. It's good to be able to say that I didn't waste my money. Ann E. Nichols

Good writing, good plot, unbelievable heroine
I just couldn't warm up to Jane da Silva. I missed the descriptions of her home and habits that are sometimes TOO detailed in other mysteries of this type. I have no idea what her house is like, what kinds of clothes she wears, etc. Also, I just did not believe what she was able to accomplish and how much wool she pulled over how many eyes. Also, I prefer when these types of books are in first person. I could then really be in Jane's head and hear her thoughts. Also, a bit too much scenery description. So overall, despite the entertaining and clever plot and the strong, unusual setting, I don't think I'll be reading another da Silva mystery.