Money to Burn is a well-plotted and well-written

mystery with an utterly memorably heroine.

Rita Noonan is terrific--she s a young detective

from a small, seedy agency who is attempting to

pull her career together, improve her financial

pnsition, recover from a divorce, and develop a

love life while she searches for a missing woman

with a very large trust fund, a missing woman

whose friends and acquaintances have the odd

habit of getting murdered.

Rita Noonan s a female "Jim Rockford"

deadpan and not overly brave. She follows a

trail that leads through all of New York. from

the most squalid crack house on the Lower East

Side to the most glamorous penthouse apart-

ment on Fifth Avenue. On the way to uncover-

ingthe ultimate truth of a not-so-simple

disappearance, Rita runs across everything

from upscale pornography to government

bonds worth millions.

Mono to Burn is filled with the tough talk

and startling twists of the hardboiled Chandler

and Parker traditions--a.winner that will please

even themost discriminating mystery buff.