DIANE K. SHAH – The Makin Cover. Dodd Mead, hardcover, 1977. Playboy Press, paperback, 1979.

   A pleasing addition to a growing list of female sleuths is magazine reporter Lindsie Hollis, who in her first crack at detective work finds herself hot on the trail of a missing pro quarterback. The effort is convincing, and the wit is genuine, but as the male-female relationship becomes ever more complicated, the mystery behind what may or may not be an actual kidnapping attempt seems to fall apart through holes of its own intricate nature. The result is flawed, but the story is far above average.

Rating:   B

— Reprinted from The MYSTERY FANcier, Vol. 2, No. 2, March 1978 (slightly revised).


[UPDATE] 01-14-16.   The details escape me, but I do remember liking this one. I was hoping there would be a second adventure of Lindsie Hollis, but as far as I can tell, it never happened. Shah did write two books about Paris Chandler, who was a “legman” for a gossip columnist in Hollywood, circa 1947. I’ve always meant to read these, but alas, I have not.

  A fourth book by Shah that’s included in Hubin’s Crime Fiction IV is High-Heel Blue, about Brenden Harlow, a female LAPD cop who’s recruited to work undercover trying to track down a serial killer. For better or worse, that brief story line suggests there’s little chance I’ll read that one.