When the smoke clears there’s one very dead financial consultant, his agoraphobic widow, punked-out office assistant and a lot more questions than answers…like what to do with Sam’s buddy Jackie Swaitkowski, caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.

A reluctant knight errant in a ’67 Grand Prix, Sam soon finds himself tangling with a scrap metal dealing gangster, an imperious restaurateur, the widow’s devoted lawyer, tight-lipped law enforcement, and most confounding of all, the victim’s wacked-out brother, an artist with ambitions as big as his entourage.

But it’s Sam’s almost-lover, now next door neighbor, the beautiful Amanda Anselma who’s most dangerous of all – for reasons even Sam won’t truly understand until it’s too late.

Strong plotting, solid characters and hard-boiled dialogue worthy of Elmore Leonard or John D. MacDonald will make this a beach read that you won't be able to put down even under threat of sunburn.

– PublishersWeekly, Starred review

It is pure gold. Everything about it (characters, plotting, setting) is brilliant.

– Library Journal

Southampton engineer-turned-carpenter Sam Acquillo is still trying to lead a quiet life, but his plans run headlong into a murder to which he’s a witness, and almost a collateral casualty. The ensuing mystery is meaty and inventive. Knopf has a real knack for creating interesting people and putting them through their paces.

- Kirkus Reviews