Edwin of the Iron Shoes by Marcia Muller

Muller's name came up in the conversation with my sister the other day, so I added her name to the list and bought the first book. I had forgotten how much I enjoy these. I think she is going to have to move up into the sequence - of course, I had intended to move Kathy Reichs up. No reason the sequence can't be longer than six, I suppose. I probably ought to get Muller into the loop - according to the wiki, there are now twenty-nine (29) books in the Sharon McCone series. The last one came out last year - so she is still at it - and I haven't read one in years and years.

This one was a little like the Gilbert and Sullivan song, "Things are seldom what they seem ... ." The characters keep switching personas - or more accurately - keep displaying sides of their character that were not quite expected. And that is rather the nature of the crimes around which they all keep dancing and which precipitate the requisite murders. Can't have a murder mystery without a murder. Of course, in this case the murder is the loose thread which unravels a complicated and widespread criminal enterprise (not for nothing have I watched all the seasons of Law & Order).

The title refers to an antique mannequin of a child which for some reason is anchored in place with iron shoes and actually does have an oblique role in the story. Even the antiques in the antique shop are not entirely what they seem.

I think some of what I thought was the background of Sharon McCone is stuff that I mixed in freely from Sue Grafton's Kinsey Milhone and possibly even Sara Paretsky's V.I. Warshawsky. A potential romantic interest is established in the person of the lead cop, Greg Marcus. I distinctly remember his name, but I did not remember that they were ever a couple. I may be confusing it with Milhone's goto cop who was at one point her father's partner -- I think. Feel free to correct me - it may be some time before I review all of that stuff. Just tell me - it was Milhone that hung out at Mono Lake, right? And McCone is pretty much San Francisco - as is Kate Martinelli, Laurie King's cop. All Cali girls, anyway.