A Victim Must Be Found

To say that Canadian private investigator Benny Cooperman is a novice in the art world would be an understatement. Nevertheless, he’s hired by Pambos Kiriakis, the manager of Grantham’s poshest hotel, to track down some valuable works that went missing while on loan from a local gallery. But while Cooperman is hobnobbing with the art-collecting glitterati, things take a deadly turn. His client is stabbed, and a peculiar clue is left in a coffee cup at the crime scene. But who would want to kill Kiriakis? And could a painting really drive someone to murder? Benny Cooperman’s a detective with flair. Kinder and gentler than your average PI—and ironically squeamish about violence—he’s the creation of author Howard Engel, a master of the crime genre whose enthusiastic fans have included Ruth Rendell, Donald E. Westlake, Julian Symons, and Tony Hillerman. Engel’s readership spans 13 countries, including Japan, England, Germany, Italy, Spain, Denmark, the United States, and his native Canada.