About Face: A Bill Damen Mystery

Gene therapy that can stop skin from aging is a breakthrough technology, but before it can lead to eternal youth it leads to murder. In the second book in Chronicle's exciting new Bill Damen mystery series, the filmmaker-turned-detective's investigations again draw him into the dark side of high-stakes science and finance. The players include an executive escort service with a hidden agenda, a biotech company on the verge of either fortune or collapse, and venture capitalists with shady backers. Juggling old and new girlfriends and a car that still won't start, relying on his eye for the telling detail and instinct for danger, Bill must unravel both a double helix and a double identity to solve this murder.
### From Booklist
In his second appearance, filmmaker Bill Damen is shooting an image piece for Algoplex, a data-visualization company in Silicon Valley. Algoplex is ready to sign a potentially lucrative agreement with Plush Biologics, a company whose gene-regulating treatments could revolutionize the skincare industry. At the filming, Algoplex's owner, Rod Glaser, is agitated when his girlfriend, Alissa, doesn't show up as planned. Bill goes with Rod to Alissa's empty apartment, where Rod confesses that Alissa is a hired escort with whom he's fallen in love. Bill agrees to help Rod find Alissa, and then, when Rod is found dead, he launches his own investigation into the murder. Bill's motivation for entering and staying on the case is weak, and the biotechnology detail is not woven as seamlessly into the story as it was in Calder's debut, *Knockout Mouse* [BKL Jl 02]. Still, Bill is a likable character, there are some intriguing plot twists here, and the idea of a filmmaking amateur sleuth has appeal. Give this series a chance; it has terrific potential. *Sue O'Brien*
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### Review
"Calder tells his story in witty prose that calls to mind Ross Macdonald. Reflecting on his shared past with a colleague, Damen recalls how in college they’d made "a couple goofy Super-8 films about existentially perplexed sci-fi insects." And before the murder is solved, Damen mulls insightfully over the question of how deep skin is -- or should be." -**Washington Post Book World**