Part of Mario Balzic Detective Mystery, book 15
First published 1999
Mario Balzic traded his police badge for a private investigator's license, but his latest case pulls him back into familiar territory. An insurance company wants him to locate firearms stolen from a neighborhood gun shop. Balzic knows that missing weapons rarely stay missing without reason. His investigation uncovers a web of corruption stretching through the community. A married politician conducts an affair with a stripper. The police chief seeks enhanced firepower to expand his authority. A delicatessen owner runs criminal enterprises alongside his legitimate business. A gangster's nephew faces charges for peddling pornography and narcotics. As Balzic closes in on answers, his heart fails him. The cardiac crisis forces him to confront his mortality just as the case takes a deadly turn. Someone commits murder, transforming his routine assignment into a race against time. Balzic must solve the crime before his failing health claims him first.
Genres: mystery, crime, thriller, detective
Vibes: dark, emotional, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: race-against-time, unreliable-narrator
375 pages · Hardcover · Mysterious Press
Content warnings: death, murder, violence