McNally's Risk

The unbeatable master of suspense returns, in a wickedly wayward case of artists, models, and murder. If larceny is good for the soul, Palm Beach must be confidence heaven - so discovers Lawrence Sanders's sleuth-about-town Archy McNally in his third boffo baffler, McNally's Risk. Hired by a formidable matron to investigate the shadowy bona fides of her bubble-headed son's beloved, Archy is wowed by the enigmatic innamorata's purity and pulchritude. But when the artist for whom she posed is killed, McNally's job takes on a decidedly dangerous turn, and he begins to suspect the demure damsel might be both a poser and a poseur. Fighting his way through copious deaths and fiendish scams, Archy pieces together elements of a strange and grisly puzzle, including: a sealed letter containing a horrifying secret; a nude dancer who knows more than she reveals; a missing portrait someone would kill for; and a butterfly tattoo in a very private place, which could be the key to the murder spree.

Lawrence Sanders's latest Palm Beach thriller fairly sizzles with greed, glitz, gals, and gore. And it proves, once again, that Archy McNally is, as Cosmopolitan described him, "as amusing and rich as Dorothy Sayers' great creation, Lord Peter Wimsey".