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Lillian Byrd's not doing too well. Her car is on its last legs, as is her beloved pet rabbit Todd. And she's very short of dosh. So she doesn't take too much persuading to help out retired detective Erma Porrocks (sounds like some kind of ailment you need an ointment for . . .). Erma, newly retired, has bought a posh new house on Detroit's waterfront, and needs help clearing it out. Lillian, always one for lame dogs (as well as lame bunnies!), takes Drooly Rick along with her to help out. He's desperate for some cash to buy a bus ticket so his girlfriend Brenda can go and visit her sister. But the moment Lillian turns her back there's a murder, and she finds herself in the thick of it -- particularly when she makes an interesting discovery in the old boathouse they've been renovating. EASY STREET is a pleasant, readable mystery, which provided an entertaining few hours on a summer's afternoon. It's the fourth in the series from Elizabeth Sims, and she has created one of those heroines who you wouldn't like to be (wouldn't it be nice, just occasionally, to read a lesbian crime novel with a successful career woman as the lead character!), but you'd like as a friend. Lillian's a romantic, cheered along the way by her favourite fictional heroine, Calico Jones, the dashing star of Encounter in Borneo. And of course she's fair game when a femme fatale arrives on the scene. Lillian does get an awful lot of exercise jumping to conclusions, and it'll depend how tolerant you are as to whether some of her leaps of judgement annoy you. And one particular plot thread is far too obviously signalled. I had a problem where Lillian, a person with a very well-developed sense of right and wrong, places a lot of trust in someone she has only just met -- with predictable consequences. She has a tendency to go chasing off all the country on a whim without much thought as to how she will pay for this. But -- and in my book this is a big plus in this sort of mystery -- she is sensible enough to keep the police informed most of the time. Burt if you can tolerate these minor gripes -- and on the whole I did, simply because this is such a good-humoured book -- EASY STREET is a enjoyable story with a likeable main character.
Reviewed by Sharon Wheeler, July 2006
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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