ORPHANS **DEBUT NOVEL**

New York, New York, U.S.A.: Walker & Co, 1990. First edition with complete number line beginning with 1. Fine in fine dust jacket, not price clipped, in protective mylar cover. A DEBUT NOVEL. Publishers letter to bookseller laid in. "In this overplotted but enjoyable mystery, the first in a projected series featuring Jim Keller, the nice-guy lawyer who has his share of problems. His ex-wife, whom he still loves, is harassing him--he's involved in a no-holds-barred battle with her for custody of their three-year-old; and the case is forcing him to close his practice in Dos Cruces, a quiet, artsy California community in turmoil over a developer's plan to glitz up the town. But that doesn't stop Keller from taking on--even welcoming--the problems of others, perhaps because, as another character tells him, he wants to "play daddy to every stray orphan in California." When an ex-girlfriend of several prominent Dos Cruces citizens is found dead, the police try to pin the murder on an outsider, a young artist who may or may not be the murdered woman's daughter. Keller seizes the task of finding the killer, which involves him with various townspeople, all of whom have troubles that Keller tries to solve, and one of whom is the killer. Pearce has created a likable, sympathetic protagonist..." -- Publishers Weekly. . First Edition. Hard Cover. Fine/Fine. Book.