REVIEWED BY BARRY GARDNER:


ALAN RUSSELL – No Sign of Murder. Stuart Winter #1. Avon, paperback reprint, 1993. First published by Walker & Co., hardcover, 1990.

ALAN RUSSELL No Sign of Murder

   I read this out of the library when it came out in 1990. It says something about my memory and the number of mysteries I was reading that I didn’t begin to remember pieces of it until and a number of pages into my re-reading.

   Stuart Winter is a San Francisco PI, fallen from the lofty heights of the financial community (and marriage to the daughter of one of its big shots) because of his integrity. He’s a bird-watcher and a Scotch drinker, and describes himself as a “cleaner.”

   He is hired by an Oakland socialite to find her deaf daughter, who has been missing now for six months. The family was not a close one, but the mother is convinced she would have heard from her if she was all right. Winter warms her that investigations often turn up unpleasant truths, but she hires him anyway.

ALAN RUSSELL No Sign of Murder

   I liked the book, and the character, quite a bit/ The supporting cast, including a quirky psychiatrist friend of Winter’s, a deaf friend of the missing girl, and the very interesting voice of Winter’s answering service, were nicely done. The portrait of the missing girl was also very finely drawn.

   Russell writes well, and tells a good story. I didn’t believe, however, in the characterization of the murderer, and there was fillip at the end that I found both unpalatable and unnecessary.

   All told, this was a good book, and Winter a worthy member of the PI ranks. I’m going to hunt up the second in the series, which I don’t think I’ve read. I wouldn’t bet any huge amount on it, though.

— Reprinted from Ah, Sweet Mysteries #8, July 1993.


Bibliographic Data:   Stuart Winter’s second case was The Forest Prime Evil (Walker, 1992), but that was the end of his career, as far its having been recorded in book form. Russell also wrote two mysteries in a followup series about Am Caulfield, a former surfer turned hotel detective, then four standalone psychological thrillers and suspense novels.