A Sensitive Case

Charlie Salter #7

by Eric Wright

Some nice girls finish dead.
Was Linda Thomas a bona fife massage therapist or something a little more indelicate? For newly appointed Staff Inspector Charlie Salter the question has little to do with curiosity and everything to do with murder, because the lovely brunette has just been found strangled in her bath. Foremost among the suspects are a major television personality and the provincial deputy minister. There’s also that other recurring name in Linda’s telltale appointment calendar—the elusive, possibly murderous “Abe,” last seen the day she died.
The touchy case draws Salter into the highest and lowest echelons of Toronto society—and every new bit of evidence is a ticking bomb that may blow up in his face as he sifts truth from fiction, and the innocent from a vicious and immoral killer.

Genres: Mystery

218 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

There is more than one author with this name in the database. Not all books on this profile belong to the same author.

Eric Wright was born in London, England and immigrated to Canada in 1951. He is the award-winning author of seventeen crime novels, including his first novel, The Night the Gods Smiled, which won the Arthur Ellis Award for Best Crime Novel, the Crime Writer's Association's John Creasey Award, and the City of Toronto Book Award. His memoir, Always Give a Penny to a Blind Man, about growing up poor in working-class London, was published in 1999.

Reviews

[Jack Heath · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 Stars. Good but a little pedestrian. Inspector Salter has recently become the head of the Special Affairs Centre for the Toronto police. It was established to handle cases which have the potential to become high profile. This one meets that standard and then some. But then his sergeant retires leaving him as the only staffer assigned to the S.A.C.! The brass delegate Sergeant Mel Pickett as a fill-in. Pickett has homicide experience but he's ready to retire and remains suspicious of Salter. Yet he's a good investigator and takes the first crack at the death of a masseuse. Linda Thomas was found in her dressing gown in a still-warm bath. Was her profession legitimate, or was she really in the sex-for-hire business? Her landlady thinks the latter. Others not. Then Pickett and Salter feast their suspicious eyes on her appointment calendar - they find a provincial deputy minister who keeps trying to get them removed from the case, a TV host who wants to write a police procedural, and a mysterious client with the sole name of 'Abe.' There are two enjoyable sub-plots - about Pickett's relatives and a crack in Charlie and Annie's marriage with Italian overtones. (Se2024/De2025)

[C. (Comment, never msg). · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eric Wright, Robert Sutherland, Howard Engel, and Charlotte MacLeod are authors who revealed that we create great popular fiction! I thought Canada's forté was “ode to my province” stories, until I found them at charity sales. Eric has two series with Toronto policemen that pleasurably blend a home front with stage-by-stage investigating that is easy to follow. The mysteries are plausible, we get to know Charlie Salter and Mel Pickett without disturbing any action, and Manitoba is usually mentioned! I dug into Mel's duology when I was missing a few of Charlie's. We aren't warned that he is introduced in this 1990 outing: “A Sensitive Case”. There is a notation inside Mel's first solo volume, “Buried In Stone”.

Once you are a fan, it is a treat to see separate characters meeting in a fused novel! I am surprised a few didn't rate this mystery highly for that thrill, not to mention unpredictable, skilled twists and turns and two personal stories in which to settle in and savour. Mel is ready to retire whenever his private life calls him loudly enough. Charlie is the new superior of the special cases department, in need of extra hands. The men work respectfully and well together and it really heightens interest in this adventure, that they take turns doing legwork. No page is stale. While Charlie worries about keeping Annie happy after two decades, Mel is jubilantly ridding himself of his late wife's rude sister and revealing a tantalizing, secret past.

I wish I had owned and read this first but knew Mel well, going into it with his two volumes already digested. I would love to see more of his England connections but am grateful to have so many excellent novels and an autographed memoir left to enjoy, with Eric gone now.

[Hester · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pleasant read with a very good but not very nice main character. I liked him a lot.

The first chapter and some later references make more sense if you have some experience with the Canadian police. There are serious problems with Canadian police brutality. Also, the Canadian police are paid a LOT in overtime with some ridiculously generous benefits, and lots of them milk the system for all it is worth. Neither of our heroes fit these molds, but there are some references to characters that do.

The secondary character's marital problems rang true to me. And I especially appreciated that the victim's murder was not her fault. There was nothing wrong with her as a person. Sometimes people are murdered for nothing to do with them.<\spoiler>

[Margaret]

I really enjoyed this book! I've been off mysteries for a bit and this one reminded me how interesting they can be. I liked the fact that it took place in Toronto - I've been there a couple times and I thought the Canadian setting and culture made this book a little different than your usual police procedural. I loved the sub-plots with Inspector Salter and his wife and with Sergeant Pickett regarding his retirement, his sister-in-law and his alleged granddaughter - great character development. The story started out slow (much like real police case work, I suspect) but came to a satisfactory end. Very likeable. :=D

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Staff Inspector Charlie Salter investigates a Massage Therapist who was hit on the head and found in her bathtub. Charlie Salter has been put in charge of the police section that involves important people in high places. The Massage Therapist Linda Thomas had an extensive list of high profile clients. Charlie is rather short staffed and a recently widowed sergeant is assigned to help investigate.
Charlie Salter has serious problems at home, he suspects his wife Annie is having an affair
A fairly good mystery with likable characters with some witty dialogue.