Created by Lawrence Sanders
(1920-98)
DORA CONTI‘s a likable, methodical (and happily married) insurance investigator working out of Hartford, Conneticutt, with a soft spot for food and flirtation, who gets more than she bargained for in Lawrence Sander‘s The Seventh Commandment (1991) when she’s dispatched to Manhattan to investigate a $3 million death claim. following the stabbing death of jewelry magnate Lewis Starrett on the street.
The usual array of Lawrence’s suspects, each hinkier and kinkier than the last, includes the victim’s greedy and ambitious son, his drug-crazed daughter; a lecherous brother-and-sister tag team and a glib-talking preacher who’s got his hooks into the widow.
Also on there menu? Sure, she has a loving husband back home in Hartford, but Dora’s getting a thing for the burnt-out NYPD detective John Wenden, who’s also working the case.
The seventh commandment? That’s the one about adultery.
The book was the final entry in Sanders bestselling “Commandment” series, all of which feature the adventures of one New York investigator or another, all of whom work for a typically large and powerful company or another, looking into the various cracks in the facades of the rich and famous.
Like, oh, Samuel Todd (The Sixth Commandment), Mary Lou “Dunk” Bateson (The Eighth Commandment) and Joshua Bigg (The Tenth Commandment). Sanders also created some other enjoyable quasi-eyes, like Timothy Cone and Wolf Lannihan. And if you’re into something a bit breezier, and a lot less New Yorkish, you could try Archy McNally, who does his sleuthing in Florida.
‘CAUSE THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO…
- “Thou shalt not commit adultery.””
— Exodus 20:14
NOVELS
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- The Seventh Commandment (1991) | Buy this book | Buy the audio | Kindle it!
FURTHER INVESTIGATION
- You Better Get Some Insurance, Baby…
You’re in Good Hands With These Eyes
Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.
