Full-Bodied Red

Quinn Parke Mystery #3

by Bruce Zimmerman

Fans of Quinn Parker, the San Francisco phobia therapist and amateur sleuth who starred in Bruce Zimmerman's highly praised thrillers Blood Under the Bridge and Thicker than Water can rejoice, for Quinn is back in a new adventure that outdoes its predecessors. This time Quinn discovers that one of his patients, Phillip Chesterton, the young, agoraphobic heir to a Napa Valley wine business, is missing. In a violent confrontation, Phillip's millionaire stepfather, Frank Matson, a rough diamond with a mysterious past, blames Quinn for Phillip's disappearance - and then vanishes himself. That's the prelude to a series of gruesome murders, with Quinn the prime suspect in the eyes of a tough - and crooked - sheriff. Quinn is forced to dodge attempts on his life at the same time as he tries to solve several puzzles, including Phillip's whereabouts, the cause of Phillip's real father's death, and what Frank Matson was doing in Southeast Asia twenty years earlier. And it all comes to a breathtaking and violent climax in the rugged desert of Mexico's Baja California. Happily, Quinn's pal Hank Wilkie, the would-be but mostly unemployed stand-up comic, and his loyal wife, Carol, are back, too - only this time Carol has booted Hank out of their house because of his fecklessness, and he has moved in with Quinn. How Quinn copes with this development and whether or not Hank and Carol get back together provide a sometimes hilarious subplot, while Quinn's involvement with the lovely and appealing divorcee Molly adds a romantic counterpoint. Additional pleasures are insights into the California wine business, and the snappy dialogue and engaging humor that are trademarks of Bruce Zimmerman's gifted style - a style that, along with his sense of pacing, has entranced hard-to-please critics from coast to coast and earned him enthusiastic comparisons to Raymond Chandler, Ross Macdonald, Shirley Jackson, and John D. MacDonald.

Genres: Mystery

310 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Bruce Zimmerman is a U.S. novelist, screenwriter, and television producer. Among the television series which Zimmerman has worked on are Desperate Housewives, CSI: NY, K-Ville, The District, Judging Amy, Reunion, So Weird, and Street Time. He has also written a number of movies for television, including the two "Inspectors" movies for Showtime.

Reviews

[Michele Mahussier · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're looking for a fun, light read this is perfect

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

#3 in the Quinn Parker series. This is the best entry so far in this series. Quinn is a phobia therapist (an occupation you don't often run across) in San Francisco. In this case, his client is an agoraphobe from Napa Valley wine country. This leads to a lot of interesting trivia about the wine industry. The case, however, is ultimately about murder, deception and blackmail, with its roots in Vietnam. A side plot has friend Hank Wilkie, a struggling stand-up comic, living with Quinn after being thrown out by his wife. The ongoing saga of Hank adds comic relief.

Quinn Parker series - Called to the Napa Valley mansion of his 23-year-old patient Phillip Chesterton, Quinn is attacked by Phillip's stepfather, Frank Matson, who drunkenly blames the therapist for the young man's disappearance. When Matson's corpse subsequently turns up in one of the estate's wine vats, a local police detective declares Phillip the chief suspect. Searching for the young man and his older girlfriend who's also disappeared, Quinn unravels a web of death, blackmail, dark family secrets and crimes whose origins lie in Southeast Asia before and during the Vietnam war.

[MD · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd give this 3 and a half stars. I don't think it will stick with me long, but it's better written than most of the mysteries I've read lately and I enjoyed the San Francisco color.