cover image Turnaround Jack: A Jack Kyle Mystery

Turnaround Jack: A Jack Kyle Mystery

Richard Abshire. William Morrow & Company, $18.95 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-688-05268-3

The opening evocation of Chandler's Philip Marlowe is apt in this wonderfully plotted, fast-moving, slightly jaded mystery. Private eye/narrator Jack Kyle ( Dallas Drop ) is hired by rich, mysterious Cypriot Guy Borodin to follow and photograph his much younger wife, Sylvia. She leads Jack and his operatives on a mildly merry chase, which climaxes in a steamy sex scene that Jack gets on videotape. But preparing a celebratory dinner after making his final report to Borodin, Jack is attacked by thugs. Then the case really blows up with some high-tech murders and the beating of an undercover Fed. Eventually we learn of a triple scam involving Feds, superchips and shady foreign money. Many characters have shocking double identities but Abshire plays fair and we're satisfied at the wry wrap-up. We also get a good look at detection, Texas-style (``PIs don't get to carry guns in Texas'') and the possible Manhattanization of Dallas (``Try to find a 7-Eleven clerk who speaks English''). Purists will also be pleased with a PI who smokes and drinks too much. (Sept.)