Occam’s Razor by Joe Clifford

At one time, Oz Reyes was a UMiami running back. Potential 1^st round draft pick. Until a bar fight blew out his ACL. The NFL turned their back on him. A local Miami business, Ten +1, a global sports marketing company, picks him up and gives him a job in security. Now, 20-some years later, Oz overseas west coast security for big events like the NFL draft, Hollywood award shows. Stuff like that.

Ten + 1 is a family business. The Dupree family of Miami. The dad was a wiz at betting the ponies and used the profits to set the company off and running. His daughter, Delma, expanded the reach of the company into a Fortune 400 brand. She had two children. Jackson is the heir apparent. Janelle was the wild child. And Rodney, a street punk adopted by Delma as a project to be saved.

At 16, Janelle became pregnant. When the child, Juniper, was born, she was taken from her and Janelle went off the deep end, ending up in a super secure hospital for people with incurable mental disease. The daughter grows up to be just like her mother.

And, at 13, ends up dead. All the evidence at the gruesome crime scene leads directly to Rodney. It’s an air-tight, open and shut case. Rodney confesses and gets life without parole.

Delma summons Oz to Miami. She has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and is fading. As one of her last requests, she asks Oz to look into the Rodney’s case. She is convinced he is innocent. She give Oz the police’s case file.

One of the overarching questions is why Delma, with the ability to hire the very best investigators in the world would ask a washed-up jock who mostly makes sure events run smoothly to investigate. But Oz owes his post-college life to Delma and agrees. What he finds within the underbelly of the South Beach rich and famous isn’t pretty; dang ugly is what it is. Oz looks up his former girlfriend for a couple reasons. One is to see if they still have feelings for each other and the other is that her brother is connected to the Cuban underworld and can get him into places he would never be able to enter. Like Rodney’s prison. And Janelle’s hospital. And get the full police file that has details withheld from Delma.

Never read anything by Joe Clifford, but I hope my county library has some of his earlier work. This really was an entertaining story. Maybe he’ll start up an Oz Reyes series? He writes mostly mysteries (I see a ‘Jay Porter’ series of 5 books) 3 standalones (like this one), and some short story collections. Gotta respect a writer whose love for his craft extends beyond the printed page: his two sons are named Holden (for Holden Caulfield) and Jackson (for Jack Kerouac).

ECD