Murder Hurts: A Fiddler and Fiora Mystery

Southern California's stylish PI team of Fiddler and Fiora returns in their eighth adrenaline-propelled adventure. Hard-driving, gun-toting Fiddler is seduced by the possibility of avenging the death of his beloved Uncle Jake, a small-time drug dealer and smuggler who was gunned down south of the border years before. Fiddler, who was there at the time, shot one of the killers; now he gets an anonymous call offering information about the other. Fiddler encounters the second ``executioner'' and barely escapes a manslaughter charge. But important questions are raised about Jake's last job and his former associates as Fiddler receives some old photos showing his uncle with sundry Tinseltown powers who are now expiring at an alarming rate. As the body count climbs to double digits, Fiora, a sexy financial maven who talks horny and dresses like a hooker, occasionally rescues Fiddler, who drives exotic cars, uses exotic firearms, waxes hardboiled and existential and is, in the end, pretty much of a doofus. Maxwell, a husband-and-wife team, also wrote Just Another Day in Paradise. (Sept.)