True Grift

Bunker’s debut crime novel is the study of a surefire insurance scam that goes horribly and hilariously wrong. The story is mainly set in a bar and grill serving members of a Southern California golf club where a crooked lawyer with a cash-flow problem, J.T. Edwards, is intrigued by a scheme cooked up by disgruntled insurance adjuster Al Boyle, who wants to make his company pay for disrespecting him. Edwards quickly pulls together a team, recruiting Wanda, the grill’s waitress, who’s sexier and smarter than she seems in uniform, along with a greenskeeper named Mack, who, though dumber than a box of rocks, is the guy on whom the whole scam spins. Reader Dyson reports on the action with a rich, almost comforting voice flexible enough to underline Edwards’s sarcastic, mean-spirited criticisms of his team while simultaneously exposing him for the arrogant bully he is. Dyson keeps it light and smart for much of the book, but has no problem turning tough when the game is almost done and blood is spilled. A Brash Books paperback. (Apr.)