Fiction_L Archives Mystery Stumper Dates: 6/18/03,10:18 PM  through  6/19/03,11:01 AM  (4 postings) Search for: Select one or more indexes to search: 2011-current     2009-2010     2004-2008    1995-2003    (Matches from each index will be displayed separately in the results page.) Return to June 2003 thread menu   |   Fiction_L Archives Menu

FROM: Joyce Deming <[removed]@jefferson.lib.co.us>
REC'D: 6/18/03, 10:18 PM

A patron is looking for a book he read several years ago. Of course, he
can't remember title or author. But, he did give us the following
description:
A guy, who the patron thinks is an insurance investigator out of San
Francisco, travels to Florida after a hurricane. He teams up with another
fellow and they eventually end up in a town in Rhode Island or Maine (or was
it some other New England state?). The entire town is full of con artists,
and there are gypsies involved. The two guys end up being chased all over
town because they discover the truth about the town.

Sooooo, any ideas????

Joyce Deming
Golden Library Reference
Jefferson County Public Library
1019 10th Street
Golden, CO 80401

FROM: Joyce G Saricks <[removed]@juno.com>
REC'D: 6/18/03, 10:58 PM

I believe this is Thomas Perry's Death Benefits. There's an insurance
scam that leads the investigator from California to Illinois to Florida
to New Hampshire, according to the review in NoveList.

Joyce
Joyce Saricks

"Anyone who tries to make a distinction between education and
entertainment doesn't know the first thing about either."
Marshall McLuhan

FROM: Dennis Lien <[removed]@tc.umn.edu>
REC'D: 6/19/03, 10:55 AM

The "insurance investigator out of San Francisco" and the "town full
of gypsy con artists" made me think of Joe Gores' 32 CADILLACS (1992),
one of his Dan Kearney Associates series. (Actually, Kearney and co.
are auto repo specialists rather than insurance investigators, but
they function as investigators/detectives of various sorts in the
series.) I don't recall the hurricane or the New England finale,
but it's been many years since I read the book.

http://www.mysteryguide.com/bkGoresCadillacs.html

http://library.coquitlam.bc.ca/Online+Information/What+to+Read/Shady+Schemes
.htm

I actually don't think it's the Gores book (the gypsy clan gathers in
one spot for the finale, but it's not a town where they've all been
living, which I gather is part of the plot as described, for instance),
but it may be close enough that your client will enjoy this one also.

etc.

Dennis Lien / U of Minnesota Libraries // [removed]@tc.umn.edu

At 08:40 PM 6/18/03 -0600, you wrote:
>A patron is looking for a book he read several years ago. Of course, he
>can't remember title or author. But, he did give us the following
>description:
>A guy, who the patron thinks is an insurance investigator out of San
>Francisco, travels to Florida after a hurricane. He teams up with another
>fellow and they eventually end up in a town in Rhode Island or Maine (or was
>it some other New England state?). The entire town is full of con artists,
>and there are gypsies involved. The two guys end up being chased all over
>town because they discover the truth about the town.
>
>Sooooo, any ideas????
>
>Joyce Deming

FROM: "Eugenia Bryant" <[removed]@webrary.org>
REC'D: 6/19/03, 11:01 AM

This book is as, Joyce said, "Death Benefits" by Thomas Perry.

Eugenia

Eugenia Bryant
Assistant Director, Head of Public Services
Morton Grove Public Library
Morton Grove, IL
(847) 965-4220
[removed]@webrary.org
http://www.webrary.org
Opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect
official Library policy.

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