cover image The Time of the Wolf

The Time of the Wolf

William D. Blankenship. Dutton Books, $24.95 (320pp) ISBN 978-1-55611-548-6

Connecticut antiques dealer Kay Williams is called upon to represent a wealthy Texan in her second adventure (after Time of the Cricket, 1995). Suffering a reversal of fortune, a Mexican family must sell what they claim is Jim Bowie's original knife in a small private auction. Also dying to get their hands on the weapon, if it proves to be authentic, are a Russian diplomat, a Japanese businessman, a rival San Francisco antiques dealer and the jaded scion of an old New England family. Complicating the usual cutthroat bidding process are Treasury Agent Roy Scanner, who itches to find out if the Russian is carrying counterfeit American bills, and the Russian's American bodyguard, Bud Wolf, who plans to kill the successful bidder and steal the Bowie knife for himself. As if these weren't complications enough, Kay's conniving ex-husband and his equally impoverished but hopeful partner arrive to steal someone's--anyone's--auction money. As the authentication process takes place, Kay teams with Roy, and Bud tries first to terrorize Kay and then to kill her and Roy. While meticulously explaining the ins and outs of private auctions and digressing into Texas history and Bowie lore, Blankenship revs up the action in a fast-paced tale populated by granite-jawed characters and powered by an impressively outlandish plot. (Oct.)