The Starr Sting Scale: The Candace Starr Series

Tough-talking, hard-drinking Candace Starr, the narrator of this witty series launch from Canadian author O’Cinneide (Petra’s Ghost), is no longer a hit woman (“I’m not in the game anymore... cooling my jets since prison, working at the E-Zee Market and keeping a low profile”), but a referral from a satisfied customer puts her in touch with a potential new client. Wealthy matron Kristina Corrigan wants Candace to dispatch 17-year-old Tyler Brent, her daughter’s Svengali-like boyfriend. Candace demurs (“taking out a target who doesn’t even shave on a daily basis is pretty heartless, even for me”), but when the boy ends up dead in circumstances that look a lot like Candace’s work, the police consider her a person of interest. She joins forces with an ambitious police detective, who promises to reveal the person responsible for the murder of Candace’s dad in exchange for her professional expertise in solving Tyler’s death. Candace’s appealingly amoral worldview coupled with her vast range of eccentric acquaintances and family is sure to provide more murderous fun as the series develops. (Mar.)