Thursday, August 04, 2005,5:25 PM
McNally's Dare - Vincent Lardo (Lawrence Sanders)
When a young waiter working Malcolm "Nifty" MacNiff's annual Tennis Everyone! benefit is found dead in Nifty's otherwise pristine swimming pool, it's Archy McNally, South Florida's most famous Discreet Inquirer, who rushes in to salvage the town's reputation and solve the un-fortunate crime. Palm Beach is already in a tizzy over the arrival of its newest millionaire, Lance Talbot, just in from Switzerland to claim his inheritance after the demise of his grandmother. There are those who believe Lance an imposter, and who he is-and was-becomes more of an enigma as Archy traces Lance's progress from the snowy Alps to the sands of Palm Beach. If he isn't the true heir, who is he? And who is the alluring Baroness Holga von Brecht, who is old enough to be his mother but claims to be his lover? When an old school chum of Holga's is made redundant, Archy must make some daring choices to snare a double murderer. Although I share the opinion of some reviewers that Lardo's McNally series gets a bit too silly, this one wasn't over the top. It was definitely intriguing enough to be a page-turner AND the plot wasn't too too busy like some of Lardo's other McNally books.
Marichu's rating: 4/5
