Cold Frame by PT Deutermann

Ken Smith. Average name. a 50^th percentile kind of guy. It was sort of held over his head during an argument with his Metro DC homicide boss when the boss said he was an average cop with an average closing rate. Thus the beginning of his nickname within the force. Av Smith.

After that exchange, he was tasked to the Briar Patch. The Interagency Liason Branch. The ILB. Their job is to make sure that any Metro case that might even by of the most remote interest by any one of the 80+ counter-terrorism agencies gets pushed out of Metro. In the mind of many of the Metro PD suits, it’s the last stop on the way out the door. The cases they handle are called tar babies. Their job is to “Move that tar baby, Detective.”

Av works with 3 other losers (so say the brass). Howie (Mau Mau) Walker: detective who wears a dreadlock wig with outlandish shirts. Mistaken for a pimp more often than a cop. Ditch the wig, add a Brooks Brothers suit and he could be a K St. lobbyist. Sergeant Wong Daddy Bento, who resembles a sumo wrestler without the gut. Famous for stomping his feet when he gets worked up. And Miz Brown. A tall guy with the look of an undertaker who has a knack for getting a confession out of perps by boring them senseless with his longwinded overly pretentious academic presentation of the facts. All supervised by Lt. (Precious) Jackson. That’s her real name.

Francis X. McGavin is a moderately high up skirt chaser within the Dept of Homeland Security. Chasing a colleague he thinks he’s about to reel in. At least until he up and dies right there in the middle of lunch in Georgetown. Not a week later, another career bureaucrat, this time from Treasury, tells a cabbie to stop, exits, and walks right into traffic and gets killed. Both cases are tar babies due to their level within the government. But the cases have to start with Metro PD and eventually end up in Av Smith’s lap for him to ship wherever they should go.

Behind it all sits Carl Mandeville. #2 in the National Security Council. Heads the DMX committee whose task is to draw up a kill list of suspected terrorists. The list gets sent to the President who then starts the process. Pretty good-sized committee what with all the various cabinet departments wanting a finger in the counter terrorism (CT) pie. A few on the committee have begun to question the mission of DMX and have sent out feelers to the Senate to take a look. Like all good committees in the government, DMX’s primary mission is to survive. Meaning Mandeville might need to looking how he can keep such an investigation from getting started.

Aside from the DMX connection of the two deaths, there is no actionable physical evidence of murder. Just a coincidence. And we know how cops don’t believe is a coincidence. Av makes calls to the coroner’s office, various Metro district stations, gets caught in the middle of inquiries from the FBI, CIA, DHS, FPS, and Lord knows how many others in the CT morass. Then there is this secluded billionaire (a Marfan’s case bearing a resemblance to Lurch from The Adams Family) who lives near Great Falls who is somewhat of an expert on plants and how they communicate and protect each other.

Somehow, it all connects in a pretty entertaining police procedural/terrorism story. A dramedy novel. Plenty of action for the testosterone-addicted reader and enough lighthearted nonsense for comedic entertainment. 

Deutermann is an accomplish author with around 15 novels and non-fiction titles to his credit. His years in the military, chiefly with the Joint Chiefs, imparts an air of authority and insider understanding of the inner workings of DC. And he has garnered some awards for his military fiction books. I don’t get the feeling that this book is the start of an Av Smith series, but I could be wrong. 

Great literature? Nah, not the point. Fun read? Oh, yeah. You can count on it.