The Golden Hustla

Clark's raucous latest (after Thug Lovin') tells the tale of hustle-wise Nina Coles, an outlaw on the run from a New Jersey nightmare. When a check cashing scam ends in bloodshed, Nina's best friend Michelle is dead and her crackhead brother, Peedie, is seriously wounded. Hoping to start her life over, Nina steals two kilos of drugs from her ex-boyfriend. Once she sells them, she uses the money to establish herself in Decatur, Ga., picking up an alias along the way. She takes a telemarketing job selling magazines, but quickly moves to a more lucrative but infinitely shadier sales job at the WMM (We Make Millionaires) Agency, persuading people to spend thousands of dollars on the chance to win gold coins. Her goal is to earn enough to send for her three children, but the FBI are watching WMM, and things get dicey when her boss orders the suspicious nephew of a client killed. Clark is nothing if not streetwise and channels her knowledge into keeping Nina one step ahead of the hustle and always at the top of her gold-legginged game. (Oct.)