APPEARANCE OF EVIL

N.Y.: St. Martin 1993, 1993. 1st ed., with complete number line beginning with 1. Fine in dust jacket. Andrea Perkins, art restorer, is in Southern California on a commission at the Huntington Museum. "Top-notch characterization, authoritative use of setting and an accelerating pace more than make up for this mystery's slow start. In the pristine, fenced garden of a Los Angeles museum, a vandal defaces a statue and a homeless man is shot. Murder and vandalism are nothing new to L.A. residents, but these crimes take place in San Marino, an upscale suburban-like enclave. LAPD plainclothes detectives Tina Roberson and Eduardo Lopez learn that the victim had been a chronic gambler, called Goochie after the Gucci shoes he favored. Meanwhile art restorer Andrea Perkins (seen last in The Balmoral Nude ), arrives at the museum to recondition Gainsborough's Blue Boy , and winds up sharing guest quarters with the other primary players in the case. Coincidence abounds as Andrea figures in the detectives' pursuit of the killer, but readers willing to accept the plot's occasional stretches will be rewarded by Coker's deft portraits, especially that of Roberson, a black woman working in a Latino neighborhood." -- Publishers Weekly. First Edition. Hard Cover. Fine/Fine. Book.