Big Town: A Novel of Suspense

In his fiction debut, newspaper reporter Swanson introduces a retro Dallas PI in a complex blackmail scam that gets out of hand. Jack Flippo, who slept his way (with a drug dealer's wife) out of his job in the DA's office, is reduced to spying for a sleazoid lawyer named Hal. A woman named Paula hires Hal to get the dirt on Buddy George, a smooth-talking motivational speaker with a taste for flesh. Paula sets Buddy up for a hot night with sweet manicurist Sharronda, with Jack in the next room to take pictures. When Buddy gets tough, Jack rescues Sharronda. The ensuing complications, involving Sharronda's boyfriend and Hal's psychotic muscleman, result in murder as well as blackmail and entanglements of the heart: Jack, not known for smart thinking around the fairer sex, falls for Paula, whose greed has jump-started the entire caper. The local color is fairly muted--the tale could be taking place in any city with a hot summer and a motel strip--and the plotting doesn't spring enough surprises to satisfy. Jack, who has lousy sleeping and eating habits, eventually contrives a clever fate for the unjust, but he stays a small-time PI, despite his Big D setting. (Feb.)