Rubbed Out

by Barbara Block

Book Overview

For Robin Light, running a pet store is a decent way to make a living - but solving the occasional crime is much more interesting. In this tale Robin takes on what seems to be a routine missing person... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1575667096
• ISBN13: 9781575667096
• Release Date: November 2002
• Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corporation
• Length: 359 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 5.8" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Not a Cozy

It is snowing in Syracuse and it just won't stop. Noah's Ark, Robin Light's business, is hurting for customers so she takes on a job for an ex-lover. It seems so simple: find the runaway wife of a seedy (is there any other kind?) lawyer.And it is simple, until she locates the wife then finds the husband dead. Missing money, mobsters, kidnappings, and betrayal fill out the rest of the story.While it lacks some of the grit and conflict of the earlier books, there is still plenty of action. Robin is not a lead that sits in her drawing room and solves the crime. By the end, her determination and loyalty are tested and she comes through. She isn't an easy person to have for a friend (we see this in the beginning of the story), but she's the one that you want watching your back.

strong unlicensed private detective tale

It's been snowing in Syracuse for over three weeks, which means people are only going out to work and doing necessary shopping. Robin Light, the owner of the pet store Noah's Ark, is not taking in much cash which means she must find another way of paying her bills. Paul Santini, ex-cop turned private detective, knows that Robin moonlights as an unofficial sleuth. Buried with a large workload he offers Robin a case involving a missing person, which she gladly accepts.Walter Wilcox wants Robin to track down his missing wife Janet and to notify him when she does. It isn't hard to find Janet who is staying at a friend's house in NYC but when she tries to contact her client, he doesn't pick up the phone. She returns to Syracuse to find Walter dead, tortured by someone who obviously knows how to extract information from a person. When she calls Paul, he confesses that Walter stole $250,000 from the Russian Mafia and if they want to live a long and safe life they better find it before a similar fate befalls them.The heroine, an unlicensed private detective, does a better job tracking down missing persons and similar things than the pros and she does it in a way that makes it totally believable. Robin Light is the female equivalent of Spenser while this tough woman also allows the audience a glimpse into her heart.Harriet Klausner