An investigator uses also sorts of techniques while attempting to solve a mystery: interrogation, forensic evidence, confidential informants, and other methods to obtain clues. Too often, however, it just boils down to pure luck. And that’s what, in the final analysis, guides Frank Behr, who first appeared in this author’s “City of the Sun,” in this repeat performance as a hard-boiled Indianapolis PI.
Behr is forced to follow two cases in this second novel in the series until the point when they begin to fit together. The first involves the murder of a martial arts instructor, which Frank takes personally. Then he is asked by a high-powered PI firm to undertake an investigation to track down two of its operatives. Frank turns the job down when no background is disclosed. However, he is induced to take on the assignment by the very police captain who drummed him off the force years earlier, with vague promises.
Amid all sorts of violence, whether on a martial arts mat or on the streets or in the gambling dens Frank is investigating, he also has to learn something about himself and his past to cope with the future of his relationship with his girlfriend. All sorts of complications are distracting not only to Frank but at times to the reader as well. Nevertheless, the plot is powerful and swift, and the book is recommended.
