A Fine Italian Hand

Edith Fowke is a professor emeritus at York University and author of the
recently published Canadian Folklore: Perspectives on Canadian Culture.

This is the ninth mystery in Wright’s fine series set in Toronto and
featuring Staff Inspector Charlie Salter.

A local actor, Alec Hunter, is found knifed and garrotted in a seedy
lakeshore motel, and because Salter knew him slightly when he served as
an adviser on a movie the previous year (Final Cut [1991]) he is put in
charge of the investigation.

Hunter was in debt and had borrowed $1000 from his girlfriend to pay
it off. He was a gambler and was thought to have been betting at
racetracks, but inquiries fail to find any bookies to whom he owed
money. But the money is gone, and it looks like a mob killing: an
Italian-looking man had been seen entering Hunter’s motel room. The
investigation, however, convinces Salter that the mob was not involved;
so he turns to the play Hunter had been in shortly before his death to
find the murderer.

Another good read for mystery lovers.