Hard-boiled New York police detective novel! Murder mystery! Whodunit?Homicide Detective Lyle Odell subsists by eating pizza from Frank's West Pizza shop, he sucks down endless cups of black coffee, chain smokes cigarettes, has such a short-term memory for things that he must remind his own mind where he places things, and to top it all off, he consumes gallons upon gallons of Irish whiskey. Odell is disheveled, eccentric, and seemingly absent-minded.
Often, he is stumble-drunk, haunted by his enemies and by the horror of homicide; but he is a super-genius. Beyond brilliant. Odell is a modern-day Sherlock Holmes who does not miss a trick. His enemies dismiss him as a has-been-an alcoholic shadow of his former self. That is their second mistake. Their first mistake is committing what seems to be the perfect crime in Odell's city. A city where Odell treads along with the phantoms that continually haunt him.
In Mohawk City in upstate New York, there has been yet another death. A wealthy and beautiful young socialite, who is from one of the richest families in Mohawk City, turns up dead on a weekday night in a hotel room in the fanciest hotel in the old city. It seems as if she is the victim of her hard partying-lifestyle and her promiscuous and risky past and present. Outwardly, her sad passing is a cut and dry case of mixing drugs and alcohol .
Hard-boiled New York police detective novel! Murder mystery! Whodunit?Homicide Detective Lyle Odell subsists by eating pizza from Frank's West Pizza shop, he sucks down endless cups of black coffee, chain smokes cigarettes, has such a short-term memory for things that he must remind his own mind where he places things, and to top it all off, he consumes gallons upon gallons of Irish whiskey. Odell is disheveled, eccentric, and seemingly absent-minded.
Often, he is stumble-drunk, haunted by his enemies and by the horror of homicide; but he is a super-genius. Beyond brilliant. Odell is a modern-day Sherlock Holmes who does not miss a trick. His enemies dismiss him as a has-been-an alcoholic shadow of his former self. That is their second mistake. Their first mistake is committing what seems to be the perfect crime in Odell's city. A city where Odell treads along with the phantoms that continually haunt him.
In Mohawk City in upstate New York, there has been yet another death. A wealthy and beautiful young socialite, who is from one of the richest families in Mohawk City, turns up dead on a weekday night in a hotel room in the fanciest hotel in the old city. It seems as if she is the victim of her hard partying-lifestyle and her promiscuous and risky past and present. Outwardly, her sad passing is a cut and dry case of mixing drugs and alcohol .