Glint
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
KIRKUS REVIEWS: The object that drops Denver car salesman Quitman O’Neil into a world of trouble is a 1964-D Peace dollar. Never heard of it? Right, that’s the point: The whole issue was destroyed except for a single survivor that Quitman finds–and casually pockets– in the apartment of current lover Helen Costello. Word gets out in a couple of spare, breezy scenes, and suddenly Quitman’s partner Marty Martinez is dead; Helen is dead, horribly; and the killer, Lester VanDyk, strong right arm of monomaniacal coin- collector Henry Lyman, is ready to get really nasty. The only obstacles between the bad guys and their $1 grail are Quitman, his remaining lover, Maria Stevenson–who just happens to be the homicide chief’s jailbait daughter–and, of course, the double- crossing numismatists themselves. And Quitman, by now, has the advantage of not even wanting the $2 million the coin could bring: “He didn’t care about the money, he just wanted to have it. A way to count who was winning.” …Valentinetti’s sparsely peopled payoff is something of a letdown. But he shapes scenes with a sizzling terseness that’ll make you tingle. Like Hemingway, this guy knows just what to leave out.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A California used-car salesman and an obsessive pursuit of a rare coin combine in this lively debut from an author who is a private investigator in California. When Quitman O'Neil, not usually given to theft, idly pockets a silver dollar, dated 1964, the year of his birth, at the home of one of his casual girlfriends, he sets off a grizzly chain of events. Curious, he stops in at a coin shop near the showroom; his questions alert the dealer, who in turn speaks to an unscrupulous collector. Soon, Quitman's auto-sales partner is brutally murdered. As Quitman tries to help the police find the killer, another murder occurs. Learning that the killer will be after him next, Quitman decides to exact revenge himself. Valentinetti's spare, noir-edged style and clipped pace will keep readers turning the pages, and after the satisfying resolution, eager to deal with Quitman again.
