In Plain Sight - Softcover

Three questions for pet-shop owner Robin Light, the very amateur sleuth whose Syracuse neighbors obviously have no use for the police. First, there's the death of Marsha Pennington, who begged Robin to help her wrestle her beloved Shih Tzus away from her estranged husband Merlin, a spiteful man who's always hated the little beasts. Second, Wellington High principal Gregory Garriques wants Robin to track down missing student Estrella Torres, though he keeps contradicting himself about the reason. Third, sinister M&M Exterminators is duping timorous clients into installing bogus bat repellents. Not enough action for you? After Marsha ends up preceding her darlings to paradise (they're killed afterwards, in a pleasantly macabre scene), leaving Robin with suspicions of murder the cops turn a deaf ear to, gambler Fast Eddie Marino's mother leans on Robin to find the $30,000 Marsha owed Eddie. Indefatigable Robin eventually ties all these cases together, but the joyless dot-to-dot exercise, relying on still another concealed crime and a convenient janitor who keeps revealing endless depths of criminal complicity, manages to be both mind-boggling and routine. Quite a comedown, then, from last year's bright Twister. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Although Syracuse pet store owner Robin Light (seen last in Twister) complains that business is off, she spends little time at Noah's Ark Pet Shop in this third in the series. A former neighbor, teacher Marsha Pennington, who has filed for divorce, asks Robin to investigate the suspicious tax returns of her husband, who is suing for custody of her two shih tzus, dogs he despises. Before the two women can meet again, Marsha's body is found floating in a reservoir outside town. Although the police rule the death a suicide, Robin, who has involved her friend George, a former cop, in the case, is convinced it is murder and resolves to find the killer. Meanwhile, a high school principal, one of the pet shop's regular customers, asks Robin to look for a missing student whom he wants to help before the girl gets into deeper trouble. At the same time, area residents are calling the store for help in removing bats from their homes while a shady exterminating company hawks attic sound systems meant to prevent the pests' return. As Block labors to unite her story lines, the action bounces unevenfully from problem to problem. Only Robin's unflappable common sense and practicality will keep readers turning pages.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.