AN IMAGE OF DEATH

An Image of Death
by Libby Fischer Hellman
304 pages
ISBN:1-59058-101-6
Poisoned Pen Press
January, 2004
$24.95

The third in the Ellie Foreman series, of which an Eye for Murder wasAnthony-nominated in 2002, An Image of Death presents the most complex plotof the three. The author combines the mystery of a videotape depicting amurder left on Ellie’s doorstep by a mysterious person, the unsavory resultsof the chaos in the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union, andEllie’s complicated relationship with her lover, David. The story progresses swiftly, with some unusual twists, which in the endtie nicely together with the mystery solved. But not before Ellie findsherself once again in the middle of situations she has promised her father,David and everyone else she knows she would avoid. And in the nick of timeshe is rescued from her own possible murder. As in the previous two novels, the writing is fluid, and is sprinkled withall kinds of Yiddish words and food dishes flavoring the text with somepiquancy. A fast read and well worth it.