The Angel Gang
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- $6.99
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
Tom and Wendy Hickey are attempting the happily ever after routine, in their shack on the shore of Lake Tahoe. Wendy is pregnant and fragile, and Tom intends to put nothing above caring for her. Then Cynthia Moon calls. She used to sing at Rudy’s Hacienda, a San Diego nightclub in which Tom was a partner. She begs him to come and help clear her of an arson charge. Wendy urges him to go.
Tom speeds to San Diego, intending to return within a couple days. But when Cynthia blames an L.A. mob for the arson, and Tom begins snooping, Wendy disappears.
The hunt for his wife sends Tom back to Tahoe and to the lakeside mansion of a casino mogul. He takes the man hostage and demands he use all his powers to deliver Wendy.
Back in Southern California, Tom’s partner Leo Weiss, prompted by a little evidence and a big grudge, pursues the arson investigation into the territory of the ruthless Mickey Cohen mob.
“The angels of the title intercede to save most, but not all, of the worthy characters in this gritty, brutal tale, which is tenderized by the PI’s near palpable devotion to his wife.” ~ Publisher’s Weekly
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The final book of Kuhlken's WW II trilogy, begun with The Loud Adios , which won the publisher's Best First PI Novel Award in 1991, is set in the 1951 world of hot jazz, hard-boiled fiction and black-and-white television. PI Tom Hickey, who plays jazz saxophone and clarinet, has set off from his Tahoe, Nev., cabin and his sweet, slightly slow, pregnant wife Wendy to investigate the murder charge against Cynthia Tucker Jones, an old girlfriend, in San Diego. Hickey's involvement sets off a chain of kidnappings which endanger the lives of his Tahoe neighbor, a casino owner; his former partner, 70-year-old Leo Weiss; Wendy; their unborn child; and a collection of ne'er-do-wells. During Hickey's travels from snowbound Tahoe to sunny San Diego and back, Weiss has his nails plucked out, his kneecaps cracked and eyelids slashed, while Wendy is dragged through the woods by two thugs. The angels of the title intercede to save most, but not all, of the worthy characters in this gritty, brutal tale, which is tenderized by the PI's near palpable devotion to his wife.
