Murder

New York: Donald I. Fine, Inc, 1987. First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. Helaine Messer (Author photograph). The format is approximately 5.75 inches by 8.5 inches. 256 pages. Inscribed by the author on the fep. Inscription reads To Stan Stirman Best wishes Parnell Hall. Small ink notation on rep. This work was a Troll Book Club selection. This is the second in the author's Stanley Hastings series. When Stanley Hastings, a chivalrous gentleman but mediocre detective, agrees to help prostitute Pamela Berringer free herself from her pimp, Stanley winds up as the number one suspect in a murder investigation. Parnell Hall (October 31, 1944 - December 15, 2020) was an American mystery writer. His works include the Puzzle Lady and the Stanley Hastings series, as well as the screenplay to the 1984 cult classic C.H.U.D. He collaborated with Manny Nosowsky for crossword puzzles and with Will Shortz for sudoku puzzles incorporated in Puzzle Lady stories. He also wrote under the pen name J.P. Hailey, under which he wrote the Steve Winslow series. He co-authored "Smooth Operator" with Stuart Woods. In 2019, Malice Domestic gave him an award for Lifetime Achievement. Derived from a Publishers Weekly article: Hall made his notable debut with Detective. His hero, timid New York City private eye Stanley Hastings, recounts his new exploits here. By turns hair-raising and hilarious, the story concerns the troubles of Pamela Berringer, who lives in the same building as the detective's family and has a child in their son's kindergarten class. Pamela has been forced into prostitution because a pimp holds a tape that shows her as a seemingly consenting sex partner of a "client,'' but she was actually duped into the rendezvous. A thoroughly frightened Stanley goes to the pimp's lair in hopes that no one is at home so he can search for the tape. He finds it, but unluckily, he also finds the blackmailer fatally stabbed, and once more comes under fire from suspicious Sergeant MacAuliff, his nemesis in the first mystery. To clear his name, Hastings must produce evidence against the killer; in fear and trembling, he insinuates himself into the company of hoodlums and other murderous types. In the close, the author delivers a surprise that stresses the sleuth's warm, human side rather than his daring fecklessness.