Fletch has only just arrived in Boston and is surprised to discover a beautiful naked woman on the floor of his apartment. She's dead. After pouring himself a whiskey, he calls the police. Not the emergency line, since it's no longer an emergency. Soon, the police arrive. Detective Flynn notes that Fletch is the obvious suspect. Fletch agrees, but assures him that he is innocent. Flynn says it would be so much easier if he would just confess. Fletch declines. Flynn takes his word for it and, to the horror of his partner/stenographer, declines to arrest Fletch.
Fletch is in Boston to look for missing paintings. His would-be father-in-law, an Italian count, was kidnapped and eventually murdered for lack of a ransom payment. Some years earlier, the count's fortune in paintings was stolen. Fletch found some clues that a couple of the paintings had been sold through a Boston art dealer. To complicate matters, his would-be step-mother-in-law, Sylvia, has followed him and demands he not rob her of the paintings when he finds them. Then his fiancée arrives.
While getting leads on the missing paintings through the art dealer, he must also investigate the murder for which he is the prime suspect. Though he finds Inspector Flynn a charming fellow, the man has overlooked a number of suspects, from the drunken next-door neighbor, the owner of the apartment, the owner's former wife, and perhaps even the fiancée of the murdered woman.
As with the first book, Fletch proves to be able to win everyone's confidence and elicit all sorts of useful information or convince people to do him favors that aren't always above board.
Truly an outstanding follow up to Fletch. Flynn proved to be a highlight and had a series of spinoff novels, which I'll have to get around to reading. Highly recommended.
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