The Cavalier in White (mystery)

     Marcia Muller. The Cavalier in White (1988) Joanna Stark, partner in a security firm specialising in museums and art galleries, finds herself sucked back into the business when a client’s murder ties into the theft of a Frans Hals painting, Cavalier in White, stolen from a gallery owned by her friends. Much conversation, a second murder, family secrets and the past come together in a nice melange of entertaining characters and plots. The novel often reads more like a Harlequin romance than a mystery. Muller’s Sharon McCone tales are solidly in the PI tradition; this book dances on the borders of the two genres as if Muller couldn’t make up her mind which one she wanted to write. There was one more Joanna Stark novel which I haven’t read. This one is OK for a few hours pleasant entertainment, but only a diehard Muller fan would want to keep it. *½