Part of Series
Private investigator Nudger is hired by an eccentric attorney to learn about the client he is defending on a murder charge. The defendant's wife has disappeared. The police and prosecution say she is dead and that her wealthy-banker husband killed her and concealed the body. But despite overwhelming evidence of his guilt, the husband seems unconcerned, even though his almost certain conviction will result in his execution. The defendant's sister knows something about what happened. So does the prizewinning poet and sensuous next-door neighbor. Then there's the embittered sister-in-law, and further complicating matters is a mysterious woman who buys and sells antiques. Just to make matters worse, a huge man with bourbon on his breath unmistakably means Nudger harm. What Nudger learns pulls him ever deeper into a tangle of deception, sex, and family secrets that intertwine to create a unique and startling plot twist—a surprising kind of justice.
Author
Librarian’s note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. John Lutz has captivated suspense enthusiasts for over four decades. He has been one of the premier voices in contemporary hard-boiled fiction. His work includes political suspense, private eye novels, urban suspense, humor, occult, crime caper, police procedural, espionage, historical, futuristic, amateur detective, thriller; virtually every mystery sub-genre. John Lutz published his first short story in 1966 in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine and has been publishing regularly ever since. He is the author of more than fifty novels and 250 short stories and articles. His novels and short fiction have been translated into virtually every language and adapted for almost every medium. He is a past president of both Mystery Writers of America and Private Eye Writers of America. Among his awards are the MWA Edgar, the PWA Shamus, The Trophee 813 Award for best mystery short story collection translated into the French language, the PWA Life Achievement Award, and the Short Mystery Fiction Society's Golden Derringer Lifetime Achievement Award. He is the author of two private eye series, the Nudger series, set in his home town of St. Louis, and the Carver series, set in Florida, as well as many non-series suspense novels. His SWF SEEKS SAME was made into the hit movie SINGLE WHITE FEMALE, starring Bridget Fonda and Jennifer Jason Leigh, and his novel THE EX was made into the HBO original movie of the same title, for which he co-authored the screenplay. Lutz and his wife, Barbara, split their time between St. Louis and Sarasota, Florida.
