cover image Doin' Dirty

Doin' Dirty

Howard Swindle. Minotaur Books, $22.95 (288pp) ISBN 978-0-312-20389-4

In his second outing for Dallas police detective Jeb Quinlin, Swindle (Jitter Joint) offers a well-written, well-plotted blend of mystery and suspense. The death of an investigative reporter who had been nosing around a drug smuggling indictment leads Quinlin to a sadistic killer, but his research also points to the powerful Colter family, based in his own hometown of Comanche Gap. The Colters, Quinlin learns, amassed their wealth with some assistance from Texan politicians--one of whom later became the president of the United States--by stealthily acquiring land that they knew in advance was to be condemned by the government. Quinlin guesses that there must be something more at stake than a 40-year-old land grab for the Colters to have the reporter killed. And there is, but the powerful family has built a firewall around itself with a network of corrupt local and state law enforcement authorities. Quinlin's efforts to pin the crime on the Colters pit him against corrupt colleagues, a psychotic killer and a murderous group of drug smugglers. This maverick seasoned cop is a driven detective who is also a recovering alcoholic with a constant itch for a drink, but what makes the book succeed are not the characterizations but the meticulous detective work and deft writing. The sense of place here is so strong that at times Texas feels like another country--both familiar and strange at the same time. (Oct.) FYI: The author's debut novel, Jitter Bug, will be a major motion picture starring Sylvester Stallone as Jeb Quinlin.