Slow Squeeze: An Iris Thorne Mystery

As a guest on a TV talk show, L.A. investment counselor Iris Thorne, introduced in Cold Call, reiterates events of her first adventure, including the embezzlement of a still-missing $1 million. Soon she is approached by potential investor Barbie Stringfellow. Initially wary of the older woman who dresses in signature purple and speaks in a honey-toned Southern accent, Iris finds her suspicions dispelled when Barbie gives her money to invest and begins to act like a friend. Meanwhile, Iris's fellow investment counselor Art Silva, longing to own his own nightclub and seeing Barbie, in addition to his uncle, as a source of revenue, begins to wine and dine the woman. Wily Barbie gets Iris drunk and finds out where the embezzled funds are; she has Art give her his uncle's earnest money in the nightclub venture-and vanishes. Days later, her body is found at a posh California coast resort. Who is the killer and who has the loot? While the answers may surprise some readers, an unfocused and unnecessarily complicated plot confuse the story so much that few will care, despite Pugh's first-rate prose and characterizations. (Sept.)