Edwin of the Iron Shoes

Really enjoyed the book will make a great gift once I receive my hard copy.

This is the 1st of the Sharon McCone books. I discovered it when another author's fictional detective referred to McCone on a "case." And holy cow! This book is copyrighted 1977. Where has it been hiding from me? Sharon McCone is quite a bit like Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone (or vice versa), which is truly high praise from me. It's savvy, sexy, exciting stuff. McCone is way cool. EDWIN OF THE IRON SHOES is set mostly in an antique shop with the eerie "characters" of a headless mannequin named Clothilde and a little "boy" named Edwin who has strange iron shoes. The author creates only a sketchy sense of place, but a definite sense of character, with some really fun potental villains. A very interesting ultimate motive for the murder makes for a satisfying ending. I can see why this is such a popular series. I loved it!

This is the first Sharon McCone mystery written by Marcia Muller. In it, we find beginning her career with the All-Soul Legal Co-Op. This is a fine first novel and gives an early taste of some wonderful stories to come.

It took me a long time to discover Marsha Muller, but I am glad that I finally did. This is the first installment of her Sharon McCone Mystery Series which had a strong influence on later female authors and heroines. Sue Grafton, in a quote on the book jacket calls Muller the "founding mother of the contemporary female hard-boiled private eye". That's quite a claim considering how many well-known female investigators there are in fiction now. In this first installment, Sharon McCone is the investigator for a group of attorneys called All Souls Cooperative. Her boss Hank asks her to investigate the murder of an antique store owner who has been stabbed with one of her own knives. Sharon learns that the dead woman was about to make an important decision about selling her property and she feels that this might be a motive. She also discovers some shady goings-on among the art dealers and tries to fit this in to a motive for murder. Add to this some past and present romances, and there are several possible suspects. Muller's writing is clear and to-the-point. She tells a good story and carefully wraps up each loose end. I look forward to reading the other books in this series, which has so far spanned a 25-year period.

"Edwin of the Iron Shoes" is Marcia Muller's first Sharon McCone novel, and the first hard-boiled female private investigator novel published. It was written in 1977, and since then there have been a rash of hard-boiled female private eye novels published. McCone works for All Souls Legal Cooperative. A small-time antique store owner is murdered with a dagger from one of her display cases. Edwin of the Iron Shoes is a little-boy mannequin with iron shoes who "witnesses" the murder, but of course can't speak. This is a very good novel, which I would give 4 stars in a usual review, but the impact this novel has had on American mystery fiction earns it a 5th star. Marcia Muller was the first, and in my opinion, still the best by far.

I am a fan of Ms Muller's,and I thought I'd go back to the beginning. I was not at all disappointed. This is a thoroughly enjoying who-dunnit and I recommend it to you. As you read it you can see the clues that she will make this character a winner. It is uncluttered by her usual gang who will probably be introduced later, so her effort is focused and her characterizations really overwhelm in this effort. I will now go through the rest of her books, in order, resting assured they we be as good as the last.