Saint Oswald

This delightful series launch from Thriller Award finalist Bonansinga (Shattered) introduces Oswald Means, a small-time Chicago hit man, who’s strung out on booze and pills, haunted by the ghosts of his former kills, and no longer trusted by his mob employers. When his dying wife, the only person he’s ever loved, extracts from him a deathbed promise to redeem his soul by saving as many lives as he’s taken before the next full moon, Oswald agrees. With the aid of his confidant, Laura “Gerbil” Goldstein, Oswald races to meet the deadline. An attempt to stop a would-be suicide becomes a farce involving the state police, the FBI, a truckload of chickens, and a victim who doesn’t want to be saved. Similar efforts to prevent the murder of a pair of adulterous lovers also go unexpectedly off the rails. When Oswald and Gerbil start saving the targets of intended mob hits, the mob retaliates, leading to an extended climax on a runaway Amtrak superliner and an ending that may be too sentimental for some. Still, this darkly comic crime novel will be a treat for most readers. (May)