Get What's Coming

The fourth and best of Reaves's strong series about Chicago existential scholar-cabbie Cooper MacLeish features a few new twists. Cooper and his trilingual love, Diana, are getting married, and he has taken a regular gig as chauffeur for real-estate tycoon, Regis Swanson. As darkness begins to swirl around Swanson, and, by default, his loyal driver, a criminal stashes $1 million with a girl. The girl has another lover, who has an enterprising friend. The lover takes the cash; the friend shoots the lover; the criminal whacks the girl. All this activity interests three DEA agents and two representatives of those who claim to own the cash. Swanson's son, thought to have the missing money, is soon dead. But the money doesn't surface, and, as Swanson's empire begins to totter, Cooper steps in to help. The motivations of Reaves's hero may not always be clear, but the twists and turns of this caper are pure joy to follow. Earlier titles include Fear Will Do It and A Long Cold Fall. (Apr.)