Election season in New Jersey brings out more than dirty politics in Wilbon’s edgy, amusing second mystery to feature African-American lesbian PI Cassandra Slick, a former Newark cop, and her white partner, philanthropist Laura Charles (after 2004’s Naughty Little Secrets
). The members of a private men’s club decide they must hire “the perfect scapegoat” to get rid of Paradise, a gorgeous prostitute, because she’s been keeping an incriminating journal about her famous clients, including two senatorial candidates. When Paradise winds up dead in Echo Lake and homophobic cop Tom Brandeal becomes the prime murder suspect, Capt. Frank DeStasio, Slick’s former boss, asks for Slick’s help in exonerating Brandeal. Wilbon skillfully keeps the crime investigation popping with clever twists. Especially appealing are Slick’s outrageous Nancy Drew pals, oversize twin transvestite streetwalkers—Lady Dijonnaise and Sheleeta Buffet—who loved Paradise and deserve their own novel. (Mar.)
