THE ARMCHAIR REVIEWER
Allen J. Hubin


RICHARD BARTH – Deadly Climate. St. Martin’s, hardcover, 1988. Reprint paperback: Fawcett Crest, 1989.

RICHARD BARTH Margaret Binton

   The fifth caper for septuagenarian New Yorker Margaret Binton is Deadly Climate, by Richard Barth. Here Margaret wins a $40,000 RV in a raffle, and she and three friends of comparable vintage head for Miami, where they plan to vacation a bit and sell the vehicle.

   On arrival they are rousted from street parking by one of Police Capt. Diamond’s minions. Complaints fall on deaf Diamond ears; he’s more concerned with the cocaine importation industry, flourishing of late. So Margaret and friends turn to good works, giving rides to housebound retirees.

   Curiously, the management of Forstman’s Rest Home won’t let its inhabitants out for a ride. Strangely, those inhabitants seem more prisoners than anything else. But of course none of this could put Margaret and cohorts in deadly danger, none of this could have anything to do with cocaine… Of course not.

   Very enjoyable fun and games.

— From The MYSTERY FANcier, Vol. 11, No. 2, Spring 1989.


       The Margaret Binton series:

   The Rag Bag Clan (n.) Dial 1978.

RICHARD BARTH Margaret Binton

   A Ragged Plot (n.) Dial 1981.
   One Dollar Death (n.) Dial 1982.

RICHARD BARTH Margaret Binton

   The Condo Kill (n.) Scribner 1985.
   Deadly Climate (n.) St. Martin’s 1988.
   Blood Doesn’t Tell (n.) St. Martin’s 1989.

RICHARD BARTH Margaret Binton

   Deathics (n.) St. Martin’s 1993.