SPRINGER'S GAMBIT

Mystery veteran Ripley, author of the Wyatt Storme series, has a winning new hero in Cole Springer, smart-mouthed, piano-playing Aspen saloonkeeper and wily former Secret Service agent. With a keen ear for cop and criminal patois, and a penetrating eye for ironic personal foibles—both reminiscent of Elmore Leonard—Ripley puts the reader right in the middle of this conflict of tough guys hopelessly out of place in the pristine ski resort town. When mob money-launderer Max Shapiro is diagnosed with terminal cancer and only six weeks to live, he comes up with a plan that redefines assisted suicide: he tells San Francisco wiseguy wannabe Nicky Tortino that he won't be paying him off anymore. Fortunately (or in this case, unfortunately), the doctor has made a mistake, and Max is going to live—at least until Nicky's boys get their hands on him. Hiding out in Aspen, Max and his girlfriend, Suzi Carr, persuade Springer, short on cash and with his bar facing foreclosure, to protect him. Max soon begins to wonder if maybe he'd be better off dead, as Springer's sharp tongue and unpredictability are wearing. State, federal and local police—including Tobi Ryder and "FBI lounge lizard" Jack Summers, bickering ex-lovers assigned to Max's case—become involved when killers of varying degrees of accomplishment begin arriving from the coast to finish Max off, but Springer has a plan to deal their way out. Ripley creates some colorful characters—most of whom dislike one another—and provides them with enough history to keep them interesting. Plenty of politically incorrect wisecracking and a suspenseful, fast-moving plot suggest that this will be the first of many entertaining outings for Cole Springer. (June)