cover image TKO: A Duffy Dombrowski Mystery

TKO: A Duffy Dombrowski Mystery

Tom Schreck, . . Midnight Ink, $14.95 (278pp) ISBN 978-0-7387-1121-8

Fresh, intense and funny, Schreck's second mystery to feature unrepentant Elvis fan and dog lover Duffy Dombrowski (after 2007's On the Ropes ) packs a knockout punch. When a serial killer starts taking out students at McDonough High in Crawford, a small town that appears to be in New York State, the police suspect Howard Reinhart (aka Hackin' Howard), recently released after serving 12 years of a 30-year prison sentence for doing in two cheerleaders, a quarterback and a class president after they repeatedly abused him as a geeky teen. Duffy, an Irish-Polish heavyweight boxer who also works as a counselor at the local Jewish Unified Services, where Howard is one of his clients, isn't so sure. After Howard disappears and begins phoning Duffy, pleading his innocence, Duffy turns amateur sleuth. The affable Duffy makes an admirable hero in his compassion for at-risk teens and in his belief that even criminals deserve second chances. (June)