Running for Shelter: A Laura Principal Mystery (Laura Principal Mysteries (Hardcover))

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Summary: This author is a great new talent
Review: London private investigator Laura Principal, co-owner of the AardvarkInvestigation Agency, has more than enough to do in both her personal andprofessional lives. Her partner and lover, Sonny Mendlowitz, is pressuring the gun-shy Laura for a deeper commitment. Her best friend Helen wants her to stay more often at their jointly owned cottage in the country. Finally, her workload is just about to the point of massive overload. Yet when a Filipino girl, who works for one of Laura's clients, mysteriously disappears, Laura is compelled to learn what happened to her. .....The investigation initially appears doomed to failure when her clients. the Butlers, deny any knowledge of the missing girl. Luckily, Laura finds a neighbor who disputes the Butlers' claim and witnessed the girl being forcibly taken from her employer's house. By the time the missing girl's body is found, Laura has amassed an array of suspects who could have done the deed. As Laura digs further into finding the murderer, she places her life and the lives of two innocents on the line. ......Laura is a fascinating woman of the nineties, confident in her ability to perform her job even though it can turn dangerous without a warning. Still she is uncertain in her personal life. Michelle Spring makes her heroine come alive and, in doing so, has the audience rooting for her every step of the way. Running for Shelter is a cozy British police procedural, long on investigation, but short on action. It is a cerebral mystery that challenges and entertains the reader quite nicely. .....Harriet Klausner

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Summary: Another side of England
Review: Michelle Spring has a wonderful talent for handling dark and challenging subjects in a way that is not depressing or grim. In Running for Shelter, she tackles the subject of slavery in modern England with a deft hand. What I love best about this series is the keen appreciation Spring has for English culture. Every phrase, every description illuminates in some way, without being overdone, and the overall portrait of the country and culture is an authentic and even-handed one. She has written about a newsworthy and frightening topic without getting on a soapbox or digressing into lectures. This is an entertaining and suspenseful mystery that will also leave you wondering about what "civilization" really means.