Edwin of the Iron Shoes by Marcia Muller
Review by Matt B. (BuffaloSavage)
Mystery writers as skillful as Sara Paretsky and Sue Grafton give Marcia Muller credit for being the pioneer of the female hard-boiled private investigator. Even in Edwin of the Iron Shoes, her first novel released in 1977, Muller deftly narrates a fast-paced story, with concise exposition that might be too telegraphic for readers that like an author who stretches out. The style is taut like a short Simenon thriller, the prose plain and wooden in spots. PI Sharon McCone investigates for the All Souls legal services cooperative in San Francisco. Antique dealer Joan Albritton has been slashed to death. McCone pokes around Joan’s neighborhood which has an assortment of dealers of antiques and junk. Muller effectively captures the edgy mood of McCone staking out the victim’s shop at night. Other plusses: the human interest and local color are interesting for once; it’s a San Francisco that scarcely exists anymore. Readers into old school mysteries or ones who’ve read only the later, longer McCone novels may like this one.
