Private investigator Lennox Kemp has been waiting six years to be reinstated to the Law Society, and now that the chance to return to the Bar seems close to actuality, he finds himself curiously drawn to lingering in the small-time sordid detective work with which he's been keeping busy during his reluctant exile. He's shrewd (and refreshingly undirected) enough not to feel too compelled to take any of his client's words at face value, but even when he suspects her of lying Kemp is intrigued by Frances Jessica Moss, who comes to him for help in finding her husband, who has apparently run away with a young blonde. Frances unburdens herself all too easily for Kemp's comfort, and when he later reads of the death of the other woman involved, he decides to investigate further, as much because he has nothing better to do as for any motives related to the pursuit of the truth or justice. Kemp uncovers blackmail, murder and such sultry advice from Frances as, "You must take people as you find them, Lennox." Meeks's third novel and first Lennox Kemp mystery shows her to be a thoroughly competent writer, with a light, poetic and moving touch remarkable in this genre.

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