Lucky Bones

June 1, 2020
A wacko theft launches a second case for a private eye who just can't shut up. The shot that retired Sam Kelson from the Chicago PD in Trouble in Mind (2020) left him unable to lie or filter his thoughts, or sometimes even recognize himself in the mirror. Despite these disabilities, attractive business owner Genevieve Bower thinks he's the one to recover all the knockoff Jimmy Choos that 1980s-music DJ Jeremy Oliver ended their nine-day fling by walking off with. (The client might have thought twice if she'd seen what Kelson did the moment their initial meeting ended.) Meanwhile, one-armed bookkeeper Marty LeCoeur, Kelson's old friend, is being pressed by the brain trust at G&G Private Equity--wealthy Harold Crane, his cold-eyed daughter, Sylvia, and Chip Voudreaux--to do some creative accounting that will leave them even wealthier. Marty won't do it, but his nephew Neto, a young hacker who already has a record, is willing. Bad mistake. Moments before Neto completes the transaction, a bomb smuggled into the library where he's working kills homeless Afghan War vet Victor Almonte and Amy Runeski, an unemployed mother suing for divorce, and sends Neto to the hospital with a dire diagnosis. Against every rule but that of formula fiction, the two cases turn out to be connected through a hush-hush thumb drive that was the real prize stolen from Kelson's client. Can he avoid telling the many supporting crooks who press him for information exactly how much he knows for long enough for them to wipe each other out? Wiley spins a florid plot as disinhibited, and ultimately as exhausting to deal with, as his hero.

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June 15, 2020
In Wiley’s strong sequel to 2019’s Trouble in Mind, Chicago PI Sam Kelson, who left the police force after a bullet wound damaged his frontal lobe, takes on a new client, Genevieve Bower, who wants his help retrieving a hundred pairs of knockoff Jimmy Choos, which she claims were stolen by her boyfriend, Jeremy Oliver. Kelson visits Oliver’s home only to find him dead of a gunshot wound. After Kelson reports the death and returns to his office, he finds Genevieve waiting for him. She admits to moving the corpse to make Oliver appear to have committed suicide. Things get even weirder when the police arrive at the crime scene and there’s no body. After Oliver’s van is torched, Genevieve discloses that Oliver possessed a valuable thumb drive, which has gone missing and is wanted by some dangerous people. Humor enhances the clever whodunit plot. Wiley’s quirky lead, who’s unable to keep his thoughts to himself because of his injury, will appeal to fans of oddball sleuths like Jonathan Lethem’s Lionel Essrog. Agent: Philip Spitzer, Philip G. Spitzer Literary.

August 1, 2020

PI Sam Kelson suffers from disinhibition. The former Chicago cop was shot in the head in the line of duty, and now, when asked, he can't lie or keep quiet. He tells Genevieve Bower that he doesn't want her case, but she still hires him to find her 100 pairs of Jimmy Choo shoes that her boyfriend stole. Sam knows there's more to the story than a collection of fake shoes and a missing DJ. After he's arrested, he turns to his unusual friends for help: Marty Le Couer, an accountant; and DeMarcus Rodman, a friend from police academy days. But Marty's interests are elsewhere. He gave a dirty job to his nephew Nate, who can hack anything. Nate is using a computer at a public library to transfer money illegally for G&G Private Equity, when there's an explosion and seven people are critically injured or killed. Sam's small team doesn't believe that Nate was behind the explosion, but once they learn Marty dated Genevieve, the threads to both cases link back to Marty. VERDICT This darkly humorous PI novel offers nonstop, violent action, and is perfect for readers who enjoy Donald Westlake's quirky "Dortmunder" characters.--Lesa Holstine, Evansville Vanderburgh P.L., IN

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