Mad Dog Barked by Rick Ollerman

When I think of crime, mysteries, and noir set in Florida, I don't think that Sarasota would pop in my head as the locale of choice. Scott Porter owns a small detective agency there. He hires some underlings to do the scut work like following wayward spouses or staking out creeps stalking someone's daughter. Scott prefers to work criminal cases. He and his #1 sidekick, Trudy, handle most of the work, which can be most anything that walks through the door.

One Edwin Morton Holmes was one such person. Obviously very well off and quite cultured. He happens in on Scott one morning with a first printing of Edgar Allen Poe's The Murders in the Rue Morgue that he bought at an estate sale recently.  In the book is a letter, the content of which really makes little sense. But Holmes is spooked that someone is after it or him. His long-time personal secretary has gone missing and people from his home in Providence, RI have said he should be watching his back. Holmes wants Scott to find out what he can about the letter so that he, Holmes, can be protected from whatever may come as a result of him owning it now. Without so much as a query about Scott's fees, Holmes just drops a check on Scott's desk. A really big check.

Scott's first instinct is to find out who Holmes is so he has one of his detective crew follow Holmes. To the local airport. To a private plane headed for who knows where. That's where Trudy comes in. He hubby is a Sarasota cop who, when asked, will follow up with information that his wife can't come up with every time Scott snaps his fingers. Holmes headed north to Richmond where he heads via limo further north to a DC hotel.

And gets his throat slit the first night in town.

A more reasonable PI might just cash the check, shrug his shoulders that his client was killed before the case ever really got started, and move on. But Scott Porter can't stand loose ends. He has a dead client whose personal secretary is dead, and the day after Holmes was killed, the housekeeper was killed during a break-in at Holmes' seaside mansion.

All roads lead to the New England mafia, Providence in particular. Since the RICO statutes took effect, wise guys aren't going to prison quietly. They'd prefer to rat out some higher ups and skedaddle via witness protection. Maybe Holmes' location was part of some wise guy's utterances to the feds. The two stiffs in Sarasota are the result of a Providence-based hitter. And he's still in town. And he wants the letter. Not just a transcript. He needs the letter itself. And he is willing to deal with Scott. But dealing with a professional killer is a double-edged sword, especially when he threatens lovely Trudy.

Until the FBI shows up.

Noir is noir no matter the location. Ollerman delivers on all fronts. Terrific, sparse, concise writing of a convoluted plot involving slick characters of questionable allegiance - irresistible. We don't know who the bad guys really are, not sure if the killer is fulfilling a contract or looking to strike a deal, never really sure whether the local cops aren't playing both sides of the street, how in the hell one of his own employees turned on him, and have mercy on the poor schmuck who threatens Trudy (Scott and Trudy play a flirtatious game of tag with double entendres that are more than just good fun).

Thanks to the good folks at Stark House Press, publishers of terrific stories for sending a pre-release copy. Every book I have received from them has been a winner. When a Stark House Press book shows up at my door, I know I'm in for quite a ride.

And thanks again to MRB friend Charlie Stella for keeping the line open between us and the publisher.

ECD

available September 2016