A wealthy woman publisher is found on the floor of her apartment with a fatal injury to her head. Brisco and Logan investigate and the victim's husband begins to look good. His wife was rich and talented. He's a house painter cum interior designer. If at first he seems saddened by the news of the murder, it develops that he's quite a womanizer. "You meet a lot of housewives on the job," observes one of his workers.
Well, killing a rich wife is a good way to make money for a smooth and handsome guy. (He's described as a hunk; he didn't do a thing for me.) But one of his paramours, a tall, elegant blond, also well to do, provides him with an alibi. He'd spent the night of the murder at her place, probably dining on escalope de veau chanticleer with a nice, if impudent, Beaujolais.
So far, so good for hubby. But there's a fly in the ointment. He had a seventeen-year-old step daughter who is desperately in love with him as only teen agers can be. She supports her step father at every turn, believing he loves her pari passu. There is a final confrontation in which hubby's carefully nurtured plans fall apart.
What makes it most interesting isn't so much the murder as the love that the teen feels for her step father, who has, by the way, been demonstrative in his affection. She's a rather plain and shapeless girl, the sort who might very well be susceptible to seduction by a handsome older guy. There's pathos in her naivete. It's sad, but it's also sad to think that in a few years she'll be wise up and cynical enough to recognize interactional fraud when she runs into it.
Well, killing a rich wife is a good way to make money for a smooth and handsome guy. (He's described as a hunk; he didn't do a thing for me.) But one of his paramours, a tall, elegant blond, also well to do, provides him with an alibi. He'd spent the night of the murder at her place, probably dining on escalope de veau chanticleer with a nice, if impudent, Beaujolais.
So far, so good for hubby. But there's a fly in the ointment. He had a seventeen-year-old step daughter who is desperately in love with him as only teen agers can be. She supports her step father at every turn, believing he loves her pari passu. There is a final confrontation in which hubby's carefully nurtured plans fall apart.
What makes it most interesting isn't so much the murder as the love that the teen feels for her step father, who has, by the way, been demonstrative in his affection. She's a rather plain and shapeless girl, the sort who might very well be susceptible to seduction by a handsome older guy. There's pathos in her naivete. It's sad, but it's also sad to think that in a few years she'll be wise up and cynical enough to recognize interactional fraud when she runs into it.