House of Corrections: A Jack Flippo Mystery

If Florida is home to the most offbeat sleuthing characters, Texas must run a close second. And Jack Flippo, with his tarnished-knight ethics and delightfully wry, caustic take on the hands life deals, moves to the very top of the Lone Star State's offerings in this fifth outing from Golden Dagger winner and Edgar nominee Swanson (Big Town, 96 Tears, etc.). When lawyer Wesley Joy calls from a small-town jail, where he's incarcerated on a drug charge, to plead with his old pal Jack to come immediately, well, Jack just has to. He figures to return the favors Wesley did him when they were both prosecutors in the Dallas County DA's office, as well as the sexual favors conferred on him by Wesley's wife, Angelique. Soon after Jack agrees to find Angelique, who's cruising somewhere on shark-infested Galveston Bay in her and Wesley's 32-foot sloop, the fun and the mayhem begin. Wesley makes an improbable jailbreak, an ambitious reporter chases Wesley's story, an embarrassed deputy plots his revenge and all of them try to locate a cache of missing drug money. Flippo embodies an appealing blend of middle-aged angst, lust-addled principles and faded idealism. Swanson's mix of crudity and wit, humor and crime, sex and murder works to keep the smiles coming and the pages turning as Flippo romps through the action to a wild finish. Agent, Janet Wilkens Manus. (Aug.)