Doin' Dirty
A Novel
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
A year ago, Dallas Homicide Detective Jeb Quinlin went through an alcohol rehab program that was rather more intense than usual, as he double-timed his treatment with tracking a serial killer on an AA agenda. Now, sober and taking things one day at a time on the job and cautiously but successfully involved with Madeline Meggers, a woman he met in the Jitter Joint, he's fragile but surviving.
Quinlin and his partner Paul McCarren's latest case involves the gruesome murder of an investigative reporter. It seems that Richard Carlisle may have found more than he bargained for while following a lead on a hush-hush story. Tracing Carlisle's steps, the case leads Quinlin back to his roots in the legendary Texas ranching country of Comanche Gap, looking into the activities of the Colters, a prominent and wealthy family. But what could Carlisle possibly have found that was threatening enough to cost him his life? The truth promises to be more far-reaching, more dangerous, and much closer to home than Quinlin can imagine, pitting him, McCarren, and a few faces from Quinlin's past against one of the Lone Star State's most powerful families.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In his second outing for Dallas police detective Jeb Quinlin, Swindle (Jitter Joint) offers a well-written, well-plotted blend of mystery and suspense. The death of an investigative reporter who had been nosing around a drug smuggling indictment leads Quinlin to a sadistic killer, but his research also points to the powerful Colter family, based in his own hometown of Comanche Gap. The Colters, Quinlin learns, amassed their wealth with some assistance from Texan politicians--one of whom later became the president of the United States--by stealthily acquiring land that they knew in advance was to be condemned by the government. Quinlin guesses that there must be something more at stake than a 40-year-old land grab for the Colters to have the reporter killed. And there is, but the powerful family has built a firewall around itself with a network of corrupt local and state law enforcement authorities. Quinlin's efforts to pin the crime on the Colters pit him against corrupt colleagues, a psychotic killer and a murderous group of drug smugglers. This maverick seasoned cop is a driven detective who is also a recovering alcoholic with a constant itch for a drink, but what makes the book succeed are not the characterizations but the meticulous detective work and deft writing. The sense of place here is so strong that at times Texas feels like another country--both familiar and strange at the same time. FYI: The author's debut novel, Jitter Bug, will be a major motion picture starring Sylvester Stallone as Jeb Quinlin.