Who Shot Longsht S

New York detective and inveterate betting man Mark Renzler, last seen in Murder-in-Law , is between jobs when his old friend Al Phillips calls him and makes an offer he can't refuse. It seems this seedy little racetrack, Garden State Downs out in New Jersey, is running a pro-am harness race handicapping contest. Would Mark like to pick up some easy money (maybe the $50,000 prize) ok? too many -- this sent. as Al's silent partner in the contest--given that Al is the harness-racing correspondent for the Chicago Tribune ? Somewhat against his better judgment, Mark agrees, and thereby lands himself in the middle of a murder case after somebody shoots handicapper Long Shot Natoli at the climax of a race. As Mark nears a solution to the crime, he himself becomes a target, but with the aid of his teenaged nephew, a weight-lifting seminarian named Herbert Richard Derkovitch, he foils a gang of thugs and unveils an unexpected assassin. Populated by a cast of characters traveling under such Runyonesque monikers as Track Jack Jones, Sulky Sol Epstein, not to mention Serendipity Red McColl (otherwise known as The Daily Double for her mammary splendors), this is another amusing mystery for PI Renzler fans. (Nov.)