Edwin of the Iron Shoes — Marcia Muller

A wood-carved little-boy mannequin wearing ornate iron shoes is the key to an elaborate scheme involving arson, vandalism ... and murder. When a small-time San Francisco antique dealer is stabbed to death with a valuable bone-handled dagger from one of her own display cases, Sharon McCone -- a young, tough, and spunky investigator for a legal-services cooperative -- is employed to solve the case. The most obvious suspects appear to be real-estate speculators -- each with his own reason for forcing shopkeepers out of the area, and each seemingly willing to commit whatever crime is necessary to get what he wants. Ignoring threats against her own life, Sharon pursues her investigation, encountering more mayhem and death as she discovers that neither antiques nor people are always what they seem.