The Starr Sting Scale

January 1, 2020
A killer for hire is the prime suspect in a case she's asked to help the lead detective solve. Sitting in the divey Algonquin, retired personal assassin (as she calls herself) Candace Starr is propositioned by a Botoxed 50-something blonde woman in all the wrong ways. Candace describes herself as "an equal opportunity employer when it comes to sex," but the woman wants something else: for her teenage daughter's wastoid boyfriend, Tyler Brent, to be killed. Though Candace refuses the gig, Tyler is dispatched the very next day. Does this mean there's another killer for hire around town in addition to Candace and her Uncle Rod? The cops think no, which means Candace may have to prove her innocence, but Officer Chien-Shiung Malone offers Candace a deal: She'll provide Candace with inside information if Candace will work with her to solve the case. Candace has wondered for five long years about her father and mentor Mike Starr's murder. Assuming that one gun for hire should be able to find another, Malone is willing to give Candace access to case files if Candace can help with Tyler's murder. Candace isn't predisposed to trust Malone, but the cop's identity as an outsider, an Irish Asian cop in Canada and a woman in a man's field, goes a long way toward building a working relationship, and it's not long before Candace's brash questioning style and no-holds-barred candor have Malone rolling her eyes with more amusement than annoyance. The characters and relationships O'Cinneide (Petra's Ghost, 2019) develops are so idiosyncratic and distinctive that they can distract you from the plot, so the final twist or two may disconcert readers who've forgotten that there was ever an investigation in the first place. Strongest when it focuses on the heroine, a tough, deadly type who just might surprise you.

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January 20, 2020
Tough-talking, hard-drinking Candace Starr, the narrator of this witty series launch from Canadian author O’Cinneide (Petra’s Ghost), is no longer a hit woman (“I’m not in the game anymore... cooling my jets since prison, working at the E-Zee Market and keeping a low profile”), but a referral from a satisfied customer puts her in touch with a potential new client. Wealthy matron Kristina Corrigan wants Candace to dispatch 17-year-old Tyler Brent, her daughter’s Svengali-like boyfriend. Candace demurs (“taking out a target who doesn’t even shave on a daily basis is pretty heartless, even for me”), but when the boy ends up dead in circumstances that look a lot like Candace’s work, the police consider her a person of interest. She joins forces with an ambitious police detective, who promises to reveal the person responsible for the murder of Candace’s dad in exchange for her professional expertise in solving Tyler’s death. Candace’s appealingly amoral worldview coupled with her vast range of eccentric acquaintances and family is sure to provide more murderous fun as the series develops.

February 15, 2020
This first installment of a projected new series features Candace Starr, a retired killer-for-hire, an ex-con who's determined to go straight. When a woman asks her to get rid of her daughter's undesirable boyfriend, Candace's first instinct is to refuse. The boyfriend is only 17, and Candace has standards. But here's the clever twist: later, when the police ask Candace to help them find a missing boy, and he turns out to be the same kid she was asked to kill, we wonder if she really did it after all. Is Candace investigating a murder she committed? The tense, first-person, present-tense narration?and the looming question of the narrator's reliability?ratchets up the suspense, and soon enough we find ourselves all in with Candace, whatever she's up to. O'Cinneide gets this quirky series off to a fine start, and Candace is just the kind of oddly charismatic character to keep it going in high style.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)