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Summary
Summary
Herman Jackson has chosen St. Paul as his place of permanent exile from Detroit, where his former life as a bookie got too hot to hold. Now he leads a respectable, low-profile life as a bail bondsman, selling second chances to losers and looking over his shoulder. When a young woman named Amy Cox leaves Jackson a priceless antique violin as security for her brothers bail bond, its really the beginning of an elaborate con game. But the game is barely underway when she is brutally murdered in front of Jacksons office. And for reasons that make no sense, the police are calling him the prime suspect. That is, unless he gives them the violin as evidence. With his criminal past, Jackson cant afford to be a prime suspect for jaywalking. But neither is he prepared to give in to extortion. Soon he is on the road and on the run, trying to solve Amy Coxs murder, pursued by one real and one crooked cop, a band of urban Gypsies who claim to have first rights to the violin, and an unknown killer who also wants Jackson dead. Nobody is who he claims to be, nothing is what it seems, and the violin, which is reputed to carry a 400-year-old curse, begins to take on a life of its own. While Jackson tries to sort it all out, the killing continues, and suddenly his old life back in Detroit doesnt look so dangerous at all.
Author Notes
Richard A. Thompson received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Connecticut and his M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University.
Thompson is Director of the Telecommunications Program at the University of Pittsburgh and has previously been employed by Bell Labs and Litton Industries.
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Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
This uneven debut introduces bail bondsman Herman Jackson, who sees nothing unusual when a woman calling herself Amy Cox comes to his office to arrange bail for her brother. She offers her violin as collateral, claiming it's an Amati worth $60,000 or more. Shortly after handing over the instrument to Jackson and getting a replacement from a nearby pawn shop, Amy is killed and the loaner stolen. Thus begins a wild, extravagant bait-and-switch. To get to the bottom of Amy's death and figure out who's conning him, Jackson must go back 60 years to learn the full story of the violin. The most charming character is a brassy waitress, Rosie, who plays Watson to Jackson's Holmes. Jackson himself is not especially well-developed, and the mystery would be stronger with fewer plot twists. Still, Jackson's location on the edge of the justice system is a good setup for a sequel, and with a bit of seasoning, Thompson may have a successful series on his hands. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
There should be more bail bondsmen in crime fiction it's a trade that lets the practitioner go up and down society's elevator, from defendants to cops to lawyers and judges. In this socko debut novel, Thompson's hero, newly minted St. Paul, Minnesota, bondsman Herman Jackson, is on the run from his old life as a Detroit bookie. Unfortunately, his new job and home aren't quite as sedate as he had hoped. The first view we get from Jackson's Guy Noir-ish St. Paul office building includes a frail-looking young woman with a limp, carrying a violin case. The woman quickly appears on Jackson's doorstep, begging him to accept the violin, 400 years old and worth at least $60,000, as security for her brother's bail bond. The young woman is then murdered outside Jackson's office building, and Jackson is plunged into solving the crime while fending off the cops on his trail and the urban gypsies trying to wrest the violin from him. Great action, coupled with fascinating bits of violin history, lore, and craftsmanship.--Fletcher, Connie Copyright 2007 Booklist
Kirkus Review
A beleaguered bail bondsman, a storied violin and a shaggy dog of a fiddle. Herman Jackson wasn't always a bail bondsman in St. Paul, Minn. Circumstances over which he had limited control sent him scurrying out of Detroit, the law at his heels. Up until then he'd been a bookie with a name that wasn't Herman Jackson. In "the capital of Midwest nice," he finds life pleasant enough until the day a blonde shows up packing a violin. Her brother, she tells Herman, is in the lock-up. She wants him sprung and offers the violin as security for the requisite $18,000. It's an extremely valuable Amati, she declares. That may or may not be true, Herman discovers. So it is with pretty much everything Amy Cox has to say. She may or may not have a brother; she may or may not be Amy Cox; and the instrument may or may not be an Amati. It is, however, an authentic MacGuffin. Avidly on its trail are some seriously bent cops and some endlessly resourceful Gypsies. As for the alleged Amy Cox, she is very soon dead, leaving a perplexed Herman caught in the middle of a scam whose origins go back 50 years. Over-plotted, but the amiable protagonist and colorful supporting cast provide much compensation in Thompson's promising debut. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
When a young woman is murdered in front of him, bail bondsman Herman Jackson has an antique violin in his hands and a whole lotta trouble on his heels in St. Paul, MN, in this debut. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.