Author Description

Product Description A serial killer is on the loose in Naples, Florida. The murders have been disguised as accidents, but when police chief Wade Hansen becomes suspicious, mayor Charles Beaumont orders him to apprehend the killer before the truth becomes public knowledge. Hansen reaches out to retired Chicago homicide detective Jack Starkey, who misses the thrill of the hunt and accepts the job. Meanwhile, a Chicago Tribune police reporter has been writing a series of bestselling crime novels based on Starkey's career. Things are not what they seem, plot twists abound, and the bullets begin to fly. Starkey, in desperation, reaches out to his fictional alter-ego to help him catch the killer. Review ''Retired Chicago homicide detective Jack Starkey, the narrator of this delightfully quirky crime novel from Wells)\, is the model for Jack Stoney, the hero of a series of mystery novels by a Chicago police reporter, Bill Stevens. Starkey, having relocated to Fort Myers Beach, Fla., finds retirement boring and takes an undercover assignment for the local police. The town is dominated by a variety of rich and ultra-rich seniors, and they have begun dying off under questionable circumstances. Starkey's adventures among the Fort Myers horsey set, a cynical blue-collar guy having to pass as a blue blood, are alternately or sometimes simultaneously pointed and hilarious. The book is crammed with fascinating asides on topics ranging from haute cuisine to high-tech weaponry to the sad state of the Chicago Cubs. Beautiful women, expensive automobiles, and fabulous cuisine pop up in scene after scene, sprinkled with alternative moments excerpted from Stevens s latest Jack Stoney novel. Fans of Carl Hiaasen and John D. MacDonald will find a lot to like.'' --Publishers Weekly, starred review''Wells has a brisk, breezy style that's just right for this tale, which blurs the line between fiction and (fictive) reality. Prime entertainment.''--Booklist''Starkey is a guy's g