Backhand

London: Chatto & Windus, 1991. Hardcover. Very Good/Very Good. A crisp clean hardcover, no markings throughout: London-based private investigator Anna Lee was first met in Dupe , winner of England's prestigious John Creasey award and an Edgar nominee. This, her sixth outing in Cody's top-of-the-genre series, should bring her the name recogition she richly deserves. When her boss at Brierly Security assigns her a case--involving pilfered designer sweaters--that will take her to the States, Lee soon finds herself embroiled in a depressing and dangerous family drama. Is the designer's missing teenage daughter involved with a pedophile, or has she just run off to marry a much older man? What connection does this man have to the stolen merchandise and to the designer's husband? The Florida Keys and a handsome U.S. operative give Anna her first blissful taste of the sunny, fog-free New World even as she handily attempts to answer these questions and dodge the bullets that seem to her so quintessentially American. Backed by Cody's restrained prose, crackling dialogue and perfectly tuned narrative, Anna Lee joins the ranks of V.I. Warshawski, Kinsey Milhone and Cordelia Gray.