Blind Man's Bluff: A Mystery

Walter Sullivan lost his eyesight in Vietnam; after that, he didn't have many legitimate prospects in life. He did, however, know the location of a multimillion-dollar stash of pure Chinese heroine that could put him on easy street if only he had the means to extract it from its hiding place and put it on the market. Unfortunately for Sullivan, others know about the stash, and they're willing to kill for it. That's the end of the line for Sullivan and the entrance cue for Tony Lonto, a middle-aged, but still tough, homicide detective, who almost ended up as a hood himself before deciding that being a cop was easier than being chased by one. The author, an inmate at Stillwater Prison in Minnesota, won the 1968 Edgar Award for his last novel, Silver Street, receiving it in his cell. This current work demands a strong stomach, however, involving as it does homicide by flaying of the victim. Johnson's crooked characters are drawn quite energetically, the straight ones less so, but his prose is stiff, and the net effect on the reader is depressing. (December 22)