Doin' Dirty by Howard Swindle

Doin' Dirty by Howard Swindle

Synopsis

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.

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Jeb investigates Texas's powerful families uncovering a plot involving fraud and drug money.

Clean Kill by Mike Stewart

Clean Kill by Mike Stewart

Synopsis

With his first two mysteries-Sins of the Brother and Dog Island-Mike Stewart proved himself "an authentic Southern voice. . . . Stewart evokes taste, smell, sight, and touch to put the reader right in the middle of the scene" (The Charlotte Observer). Now he's back with a third novel of murder, suspense, and legal intrigue-this time set along the affluent Eastern Shore of Mobile Bay.

When a young woman asks Tom to investigate her mother's death in a small-town hospital, his first instinct is to refuse the case. But as the woman reveals the suspicious circumstances of a simple food poisoning turned deadly, he reluctantly finds himself intrigued. As Tom and his investigator, Joey, delve into the mother's death, an attempt is made on Tom's life, the state bar threatens disbarment, and he finds himself accused of murdering a fellow lawyer. With the help of a beautiful Asian-American psychologist-turned-jury expert, his search for the truth uncovers a conspiracy of jury-rigging beginning at the highest levels of government and backed up by cold-blooded killers. Filled with unexpected reversals and treachery, A Clean Kill will keep even the most jaded mystery reader guessing.

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Tom takes up a case involving mysterious death of a juror.

Mr. Lucky: A Novel of High Stakes by James Swain

Mr. Lucky: A Novel of High Stakes by James Swain

Synopsis

Tony Valentine made his living and his name as a cop in Atlantic City-and is now known worldwide for his ability to spot the kinds of scams, grifts, and rip-offs that cost casinos billions every year. A man with a biting wit who drives a '92 Honda, Tony is low-profile, old-school, and has seen it all-until he meets the luckiest man on earth.

Ricky Smith was once a small-town loser. Then he went to Las Vegas, jumped out the window of a burning hotel, lived to tell the tale, and tore up the Strip on an incredible winning streak. Ricky didn't just win at one slot machine or table game. He won at blackjack, roulette, and craps, and then beat the pants off the world's greatest poker player. Tony knows that goofy, loudmouthed Ricky Smith-or anyone else, for that matter-couldn't possibly be that fortunate. But when "Mr. Lucky" returns home to the little town of Slippery Rock, North Carolina, he keeps on winning everything from a horse race to a $50,000 lottery.

Hired by a desperate casino, Tony starts to pry into Ricky's past, his friends, and the strange little town that is benefiting from Ricky's fame and fortune. Unfortunately for Tony, his cover is blown when he is forced to reveal a trick he has up his own sleeve: a pocket Glock he can shoot with laser-like precision. Suddenly, two men are dead, the cops are on Tony's tail, and the investigation explodes in violence-putting the lives of Tony's son and his young family in danger.


For years, Tony's son Gerry has dueled with his own criminal impulses. Now, the Ricky Smith case has lured Gerry through the gates of temptation and into a murderous confrontation with the Dixie Mafia. With Tony stuck on the slippery slope of Slippery Rock and Gerry fighting for his life, the Valentines are finding out just how bad good luck can get.

Against a neon-tinted backdrop of adrenaline rushes, hard crashes, big money, and high-wire tension, the inimitable James Swain has set his best Tony Valentine novel yet: a funny, furious ride with an astounding array of crooks, marks, and one killer scam.

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Tony Valentine is brought in to investigate when a guy cheats death and gets a string of lucky breaks. Tony's investigation uncovers a plot to defraud casinos in an elaborate plot involving everyone in the town.

Dog Island by Mike Stewart

Dog Island by Mike Stewart

Synopsis

Hard-nosed Southern lawyer Tom McInnes is on the trail of a mysterious Alabama mob-and his only source is a girl who has never trusted a man in her life.

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Teen girl on the run from gangsters after witnessing a murder seeks Tom McIness's help.

Scent and the Scenting Dog by William G. G. Syrotuck

Scent and the Scenting Dog by William G. G. Syrotuck

Description
Unveil the mysteries of Scent! Now you can understand how and why a dog can work scent. This fascinating book explains the composition of scent, how it works in the dog's nose, and what affects scent and much more! · The Sense of Smell · Anatomy and Physiology · Theories and Odor · The Human as a Scent Source · Transmission · Atmospheric Factors and Airborn Scent · The Ground Scent Picture · Working on Dog's Scent · Snow Experiments

About the Author
William Syrotuck spent years developing and researching the olfactory system in dogs. He brings knowledge in this concise, easy to understand book.

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Treatise on scenting abilities of dogs and science behind training methods for teaching dogs to track humans. Easy to understand language with everything explained in layman's terms.

The Traynor Legacy by David Stinson

The Traynor Legacy by David Stinson

Kirkus Reviews

A mugging gone bad, or murder most calculated? Jonathan Traynor, 80, has been beaten so terribly in his own home that he never regains consciousness. He's been beaten and robbed, and some cash, some jewelry and a small TV set duly appropriated. But Detective Sergeant Victoria Costanza of Washington Metro Homicide is suspicious, perhaps because of the victim's enigmatically shrouded identity. In life, Traynor was one of those ghostly figures occasionally spotted prowling the corridors of power. Beltway insiders idly assumed he had something to do with intelligence. Traynor's career, however, warranted serious interest. For 30 years, he'd spearheaded a special brand of clandestine operations for the CIA. His practice often involved political assassination, and when it did, the hit man was invariably Traynor's trusted friend and protege, talented killer Hack Staley. Now Traynor is dead and Costanza skeptical but clueless-until a phone call from a mysterious informant provides her with her first lead. In the meantime, Staley has managed to pinpoint just who hated Traynor enough to want him murdered and then to set about extracting an elaborate, custom-tailored vengeance worthy of Poe. Though the working-out is complicated and occasionally repetitious, readers will probably want to know how Stinson's debut turns out.

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Covert operative goes on to avenge his mentor after his mentor is brutally murdered.

Sins of Brother by Mike Stewart

Sins of Brother by Mike Stewart

From Publishers Weekly
Introducing Tom McInnes, an Alabama attorney who quits a high-profile Mobile law firm in favor of solo practice, this slick, intelligent debut seeks to bring some Grishamesque thrills to the mystery form. Six months after establishing his modest practice, Tom learns that his ne'er-do-well, drug-dealing younger brother, Hall, has been murdered. Tom goes to his hometown of Cooper's Bend, Ala., where his powerful father, Sam McInnes, is the local lumber-mill tycoon. There, he learns that the sheriff, an African-American war hero named Nixon, is on the take from the elder McInnesAand may be shielding a bookie connected to "the most dangerous man in Alabama," Mike Gerrard, godfather of the statewide underworld. Tom sets out to avenge his brother's murder with the help of a hulking PI of mythic prowess known as Joey. The convoluted trail takes the two men from Alabama to New Orleans and back, as they dodge bullets and hired thugs along the way. Tom's feisty girl Friday, Kelly, is just one of several women he leers at in the novel's all too frequent and rather goofy cheesecake scenes, which are the weak links in an otherwise taut effort. The brooding presence of the Alabama River provides ample obligatory southern gothic ambiance, while the New Orleans and Alabama settings lend pungent atmosphere to a satisfyingly labyrinthine plot. (Oct.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Lawyer is embroiled in a plot of lies and deception when he investigates death of his wayward brother.

Ask the Parrot by Richard Stark

Ask the Parrot by Richard Stark

Publishers Weekly

At the start of the highly entertaining new Parker novel from Stark (aka MWA Grand Master Donald Westlake), Parker is on the lam from the botched robbery in Nobody Runs Forever (2004) when he meets up with reclusive Tom Lindahl, who helps him escape a posse of Massachusetts lawmen and their pack of howling dogs. Tom rescues Parker because he has a scheme to rob a local racetrack where he was fired after blowing the whistle on illegal money laundering, and he needs the aid of a professional thief. Parker joins in not only because he knows a good heist when he hears it, but because Tom offers him a way out of a tight situation. As with any Parker novel, things go to hell in bits and pieces as the tight-knit plan unravels, while Parker, ever the cold-blooded professional, deals with the pitiful attempts of amateurs and law enforcement alike to bring him down. Why do readers love this heartless bad guy? Because he's so damn good at what he does. (Nov.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

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From the Parker series, Parker running from the law (sequel to Nobody Runs Forever (2004))takes help from reclusive and bitter loner who is out to take revenge on his former employers.

Flashfire by Richard Stark

Flashfire by Richard Stark

Synopsis

Melander likes things flashy. Parker worked with Melander on a bank heist in a midwestern city: his job was to throw a Molotov cocktail into a gas station, sending the cops and fire trucks to the east side of town while Melander and his gang plundered the bank on the west side.

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Parker teaches a lesson to three crooks who take for granted his participation in a new heist. One of the few authors who makes you root for the bad guy.

Jitter Joint by Howard Swindle

Jitter Joint by Howard Swindle

Synopsis

In Jitter Joint, award-winning journalist Howard Swindle delivers Jeb Quinlin, a Dallas homicide detective combating crime-and his own personal demons.

"The weak and pitiful shall perish..."

Jeb Quinlin has been issued an ultimatum by his boss and his wife: dry out or get out. So he hits his favorite bar for a last fifth of Wild Turkey and reluctantly enters detox. Once inside, Jeb is forced to confront his years of alcoholism with the help of Librium, hard-core therapy, and AA meetings. But someone is taking the words of the Big Book too far, as rehab patients begin to die mysteriously, each tagged with one of AA's Twelve Steps. Now Jeb is on a sobering hunt for the Twelve-Step killer, a twisted psychopath who's taking the battle with the bottle to horrifying new heights...

⇒ Via: BN.com

Alhocholic cop has to find a killer on the loose that is killing all rehabilitated alcoholics.