Death of a Salesperson

January 1, 1990
Fans will appreciate Barnard's first collection of 15 mysteries. More critical readers, however, will find the ironic endings or "untimely exits" too predictable and contrived and will miss the more adequate development of character and action and the sense of place that the novel form allows Barnard. In the pieces that work well ("The Woman in the Wardrobe," "Just Another Kidnap," "Death of a Salesperson"), Barnard is at his clever and skillful best, and his usual biases about society are in evidence. Libraries will no doubt want to order this for their Barnard fans and for that increasing population of readers who want short mysteries.-- Elizabeth Guiney Sandvick, North Hennepin Community Coll., Minneapolis

Copyright 1990 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.