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Jane da Silva knows a Cole Porter tune and a silky voice will only carry you so far through the urbane cabarets of Europe. So when the young widow's "eccentric" Uncle Harold dies, she jets back to the States to claim the fortune she dearly needs to ransom her Visa card. Unfortunately, Jane finds her inheritance conditional and her situation critical. It seems Uncle Harold and his old-codger cronies are part of a secret society dedicated to aiding and abetting offbeat lost causes, and Jane
show more must carry on her uncle's "work" if she expects to see anything resembling a windfall. But just how far will the chic expatriate go when her "hopeless case" forces her to mingle with a sleaze-ball lawyer, a scheming psychiatrist, a sinister New Age cult, a stone-cold corpse--and a ruthless murderer? Tags
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Member Reviews
Jane da Silva is a 37-year old widow scraping out a living in Europe and thinking that it’s about time she settled down. As it happens, her uncle in Seattle dies and leaves her a fortune - but only if she can take on “a hopeless case” and solve it to the satisfaction of a board of trustees, all old men who have little faith in her abilities. However, it is not too long before Jane stumbles into a definitely hopeless situation, one that she soon wants to solve even without the potential windfall, but it appears that there are other people who definitely do *not* want her to succeed and who are not averse to choosing violence to stop her…. This is the first of a four-book series about Jane da Silva, set in early 1990s Seattle. As show more with K. K. Beck’s Iris Cooper novels, Jane is a resourceful, self-reliant and forthright woman, and she is soon joined by a variety of characters who alternately help her and try to control her. I lived in Seattle briefly in the late 1970s, and I must confess that I enjoy running across place names and neighbourhoods that I recall, but one doesn’t need a connection to the place or the time to enjoy this series; recommended. show less
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Author Information
21+ Works 1,005 Members
Kathrine Kristine Beck was born in Seattle, Washington, on September 22, 1950. She received a B.A. from San Francisco State University. Before becoming a full-time mystery writer, Beck wrote advertising copy and edited a trade magazine. At one point she also sold radio air time, an experience she was later to include in We Interrupt this show more Broadcast, a mystery set in a small, classical radio station. Beck's mysteries are usually written in a light-hearted vein. Her first mystery, Death in a Deck Chair, is an entertaining period piece set in the 1920s on a transatlantic ocean liner. The two main characters from that book, debutante college student Iris Cooper and brash young reporter Jack Clancy, reappear in some of her later books, including Murder in a Mummy Case and Peril Under the Palms. Another recurring character is Jane da Silva, a middle-aged widow who becomes involved with various mysteries after she inherits her uncle's estate and, along with it, his business, which was helping desperate people find a solution to their problems. Books in this series include A Hopeless Case and Amateur Night. Other books by Beck include The Revenge of Kali-Ra; Bad Neighbors; Cold Smoked; Electric City; Young Mrs. Cavendish and the Kaiser's Men; Unwanted Attentions; Without a Trace; Death of a Prom Queen, which was written under the pseudonym Marie Oliver, and The Tell-Tale Tattoo. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Series
Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 1993-07-01
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 93
- Popularity
- 344,006
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (2.97)
- Languages
- English, German
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 7
- ASINs
- 1
