Cold Smoked

Jane Da Silva #4

by K.K. Beck

Under the terms of eccentric Uncle Harold's will, Jane da Silva can only access her trust fund if she investigates "hopeless cases" for the Bureau for Righting Wrongs. Low on cash and waiting for a hopeless case, Jane is singing the blues in a Seattle hotel lounge during a seafood convention. When a young woman is shot to death, Jane agrees to help the woman's family find the murderer.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction

240 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published July 1, 1996

About the author

Kathrine Kristine Beck Marris (born 1950), known mainly by her pen name of K. K. Beck, is an American novelist. She has written over a dozen books, some of which were part of the Iris Cooper novel series and the Jane da Silva novel series.

An early novel of hers, Death of a Prom Queen (1984) was written under the pen name of Marie Oliver. She wrote a series of other novels, under the name K. K. Beck, such as The Revenge of Kali-Ra in 1999. One of her most recent works, The Tell-Tale Tattoo and Other Stories (2002) is a collection of short stories.

She lives in Seattle, Washington, and was married to the crime-writer Michael Dibdin, who died in 2007.

Series:
* Iris Cooper
* Jane Da Silva

Reviews

[Jenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a short book, this was pretty good. A cozy mystery about fish and the fish industry. I thought it would be dry and dull as hell, but I did actually learn a thing or two while enjoying the murder whodunnit. I was even shocked by further murders within the last 20 pages of the book! Talk about a red herring (lololol - I slay myself with puns).

[Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked Jane until she made the remark about guns. She should know that guns don't kill people, people kill people!

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

K.K. Beck writes an fun mystery that is not too cute.

[Alison C · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jane da Silva is back to singing in hotel bars, just scraping by while she looks for a new case to investigate. While singing at a social gathering of international fish marketers, she notes a tartily dressed couple of women whom she assumes are hookers. But when one of those women is subsequently found dead in a hotel room, she realizes that she has found her new case - one that will take her to Norway, to the Shetland Islands, and back home to Seattle where it all began…. This is the last Jane da Silva book and, to my mind, the least of them too. Jane is almost the only character in it from the previous books - no lovely Samoan bodyguard, no lawyer Calvin Mason; the apple orchard/singer Jack from the previous book is peripherally noted, but barely seen at all. In addition, the secondary characters are more or less stereotypes - the phlegmatic Swiss investigator, the proudly independent Shetlander (don’t call him Scots!) and so on. Even the whole concept of the series, that Jane is to find “hopeless” cases to solve in order to receive a large inheritance from her late uncle, is given short shrift here, as if the author herself was bored with the whole thing. For completists only, sadly.

[George · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Jane Da Silva mystery. As usual, Jane is low on funds and thinking about finding another case to work on to obtain money under the provisions of her uncle's will. In the meantime she is working as a lounge singer at a Seattle hotel which is hosting a salmon convention. There is a murder and Jane becomes involved helping the victim's parents learn what happened to their daughter. This quest results in Jane becoming involved in the salmon business posing as a journalist. It becomes more complicated as Jane tries to obtain information and becomes involved in efforts to uncover a plot to ruin the salmon farming industry.

[Renee · Rating 3 out of 5]

For some bizarre reason, the allure of cod grounds and other aspects of the fish industry never sufficiently titillated me to pick up this book in the more than 10 years that I've had it. Go figure.

It turns out, however, that the book isn't half bad. I'd even say that it was fairly good -- certainly good enough for me to pick up another of Beck's books. Heck, Beck even manages to make cod grounds and salmon farming fairly interesting! I'm not going to put you on -- she's still not at the top of my list of favorite authors, but she's a strong-enough writer for me to happily reach for another of her books in the future.

[Katherine Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was unfortunately the last of the Jane da Silva mystery series, and I would love to know why. It doesn't end as if it were the last; important things were left undone. I enjoyed these and love the conceit of them. And I liked the protagonist. Now I want to visit the Shetland Islands and never ever ever go to a fish show.

[Alan]

Another Jane Da Silva novel. This time she is up to her eyballs in fish, investigating the muder of a girl who was sampling fish to a convention of salmon growers. Great for reading on the airplane.

[Michelle · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked this up in a Book Crossing book basket. Not as much fun to read as I thought.

[Pat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good mystery.
Jane da Silva investigates murder at a salmon convention.
Rift between natural and farming of salmon.
Interesting characters.

[Julie Kiley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun series, fun read, hard to predict

I love this series! The lead is pragmatic, the situations varied and unpredictable, the travel is innovative in location and well described.