Act of God

John Francis Cuddy #9

by Jeremiah Healy

Cuddy looks for the link between a disappearance and a robbery gone wrongJohn Francis Cuddy almost never gets walk-in clients, but today he has two. Although William Proft and Pearl Rivkind enter his office together, they could not have less in common. Proft is a pharmacist with greedy eyes, who relates too calmly the facts of his sister’s disappearance. Mrs. Rivkind is a recent widow whose husband was killed during an attempted robbery. Her fear that her husband may have been cheating endears her to Cuddy. The odd couple think there may be a connection between the missing sister and late husband, and ask Cuddy to find it. Cuddy does not like joint cases, but the hard sorrow in Mrs. Rivkind’s eyes makes him say yes. He quickly finds that, although Mrs. Rivkind’s grief for her husband was genuine, Proft has no interest in seeing his sister return. As Cuddy searches for answers to these strange intertwined cases, he can only pray that no more corpses appear before he finds the truth.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction

336 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

aka Terry Devane

Jeremiah Healy was the creator of the John Francis Cuddy private-investigator series and the author of several legal thrillers. A former sheriff's officer and military police captain, Healy was also a graduate of Rutgers College and the Harvard Law School. He practiced law in Boston before teaching for eighteen years at the New England School of Law. His first novel, BLUNT DARTS, was published in 1984 and introduced Cuddy, the Boston-based private eye who has become Healy¹s best-known character. Moral, honest--and violent, when need-be--Cuddy makes his living solving cases that have fallen through the cracks of the formal judicial system.

Of his thirteen Cuddy novels and two collections of short stories, fifteen have either won or been nominated for the Shamus Award.
www.JeremiahHealy.com

Series:
* John Francis Cuddy

Reviews

[Brian O'Leary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing special, but it keeps your interest and is a quick read.

[LJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

ACT OF GOD - G
Healy, Jeremiah - 9th in series

William Proft and Pearl Rivkind convince Boston private eye John Francis Cuddy to take their mutual-interest case. Rivkind's husband, furniture-store owner Honest Abe, was killed in a break-in. His secretary, Proft's sister Dabra (yes, Dabra), takes a vacation shortly thereafter, returns briefly, then disappears without a trace. The pair believes there may be a connection. Cuddy reluctantly takes the case, realizing a conflict may arise. As he investigates, he finds Rivkind's business was failing, and he was having an affair with Dabra, who had at least two other men in her life. More disturbing to Cuddy is the Proft siblings' possible involvement in their heavily insured mother's death a few years earlier. Then there's the matter of Dabra's past, which is strewn with other dead lovers. Underpinning Cuddy's investigation is a dawning realization of his own vulnerability and his growing commitment to a longtime lover.

This was a bit weaker than the previous books in the series, but still good.

[Otto Penzler · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a story of an innocent elderly man’s death, and the search to find his killer. A suspicious secretary disappears and before anyone can find her, another body turns up. In the spirit of his classic title Shallow Graves, Healy uses archetypal characters to navigate a complex plot structure.

Healy is a graduate of Harvard Law School, and many of his 18 thrillers take place in Boston. A writer not only revered by his fans, Healy has been honored by the crime fiction industry as a whole. From 2000-2004, Healy served as President of the International Association of Crime Writers, was International Guest of Honor at the 34th World Mystery Convention, and served on the Board of Directors of the Mystery Writers of America.