EPITAPH

Sometimes it's pleasant to read a tale that unfolds slowly and methodically like the layers of an onion. This first novel is such a story. Retired detective and senior citizen William (never Bill, Billy or Willy) Riskin, a New Yorker through and through, used to work for an investigative agency, the Three Eyes, whose clients were either from the city or had settled in south Florida. The problem at hand is that some people who left their longtime New York abodes for Florida never arrived there. Where are they, and what happened to them? Jean Goldblum, deceased, one of William's former partners in the Three Eyes agency, had been working on the "biggest case of his life," and now William must come out of retirement to try to pick up the pieces. William only has Jean's list of names of the missing people to work with. "Follow the list, William, it's all you have," our hero says to himself. As the layers are stripped bit by bit, and oh, so slowly, we learn that this case has roots in the past, when Nazi Germany controlled much of Europe. Jean had always been known as an underground hero from World War II; could it be that his reputation is undeserved? As William moves from clue to clue, he uncovers more than one startling secret. In a denouement as frightening as a medieval torture chamber, William fights for his life. Is this Williams's last case, or will he return in another adventure? Either way, readers will be satisfied. (June 5)

FYI:The author is a senior advertising executive whose work has won many industry awards. He also wrote the Emmy-winning NBC "Make You Know" public service campaign.