Death by Jury: An Alo Nudger Mystery

St. Louis shamus Alo Nudger, still addicted to antacids, has a piranha of an ex-wife and an office above a shop selling the world's greasiest doughnuts. And, as usual, he's sleuthing through a humid Missouri summer. From the start, his latest case, following Thicker Than Blood, has a nasty taste. Roger Dupont is pretty cool for a man accused of murdering his missing wife. He has hired the dumbest lawyer in the Western world and remains serene as the case against him gathers momentum. Then a few odd breaks occur and he's freed. Nudger, who was hired by the dumb lawyer, collects a fee; the lawyer gets more work; Dupont gives up his job at the bank; the wife remains missing. Half a year later, her body is found. Dupont can't be tried again in a court of law. But Nudger reconvenes the case in the court of his own suspicious mind. Lutz includes a number of cute sidebars as his PI pursues justice, among them Nudger's series of stumbles in an increasingly politically correct world. Few Nudger tales have this high a body count at the conclusion, but the pieces all fit and the fade from humor to homicide is never less than convincing. (Sept.)