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Suicide King by Shelley Singer (
SYKM), 5th in her Jake Samson & Rosie Vicente series which she calls a cozy right in the blurb, though of course YMMV, originally out from St. Martin's Press in 1988.
Suicide King is the FIFTH cozy mystery in the Jake Samson and Rosie Vicente detective series.
Laid-back P.I. Jake Samson's never been a big fan of politics: fun and profitable if you understand the game, futile and frustrating if you don't. But his longtime friend and (unlicensed) sidekick Rosie Vicente invites him to a posh California fundraiser for the energetic gubernatorial candidate of the liberal underdog Vivo party. Hearing that Joe Richmond’s charisma rivals JFK's, Jake can't resist. And what's worse, Jake's actually impressed by Richmond's rhetoric and charm. It's all fun and political games until Pam Sutherland, Richmond's aide, finds her boss in her backyard, hanging naked from an acacia tree.
The police rule the death a suicide; Jake and Pam suspect foul play. Pam quickly hires Jake to find the culprit, leading him through an intriguing web of campaign shenanigans, backroom wheeling and dealing, affairs, a possible German mafia connection, and a fair amount more danger than our hero could possibly have imagined.