The Cooperman Variations

Description

279 pages
$9.99
ISBN 0-14-029532-1
DDC C813'.54

Year

2001

Contributor

Reviewed by Henry G. MacLeod

Henry G. MacLeod teaches sociology at both Trent University and the
University of Waterloo.

Review

After a six-year break, Howard Engel’s uniquely Canadian, small-town,
Jewish private eye returns.

Vanessa Moss, a high-powered television executive (and the first great
love of every male at Benny’s old high school), fears that someone is
literally gunning for her job when a friend is murdered in an apparent
case of mistaken identity. Though a suspect herself, Vanessa needs her
own bodyguard, and Benny is unable to resist the offer. Posing as her
new executive assistant, he is soon investigating a questionable suicide
and foiling another attempt on Vanessa’s life. The drowning death of a
world-class cellist a year earlier holds the key to the mystery.

As he endeavors to clear his client, Benny is reunited with Sergeant
Pepper from the novella The Whole Megillah and Hollywood movie star
Peggy O’Toole from Murder on Location, the third novel in the series.
Boasting a well-constructed plot and plenty of wit, The Cooperman
Variations is vintage Benny.

Citation

Engel, Howard., “The Cooperman Variations,” Canadian Book Review Annual Online, accessed December 11, 2024, https://cbra.library.utoronto.ca/items/show/7360.