Fiddle Game
A Herman
Jackson Mystery
Richard
A. Thompson
Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 1-59058-455-4 (1590584554)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-455-2 (9781590584552)
Publication Date: January 2008
List Price: $24.95
Synopsis (from
the publisher): 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 brother’s bail bond,
it’s really the beginning of an elaborate con game. But the game
is barely underway when she is brutally murdered in front of
Jackson’s 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 can’t 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
Cox’s 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 doesn’t look so dangerous at all.
Review: Fiddle Game is Robert A. Thompson's
first mystery that introduces Herman Jackson, a bail bondsman living in
St. Paul, and it is a winner. Jackson is someone who is smart enough to
stay just above the law but not quite smart enough that the police keep
an eye on him.
Jackson generally leads a quiet life. That is, until one day when Amy
Cox came in for an $18,000 bond for her brother Jimmy. She has no cash,
but she's willing to put up something worth far more, a 400-year-old
Amati violin with a certificate of authenticity. Together, Amy and
Jackson visit a pawn shop when they receive the necessary cash. After
the transaction is complete, Amy leaves Jackson's office and is killed
by a hit-and-run driver. To Jackson's surprise, the police accuse him
of murdering Amy, and want him to turn over the violin as part of their
investigation.
And so begins a thrilling, cross-country adventure as Jackson uses
numerous fake IDs to keep one step ahead of the people following him,
at least one of which wants him dead. He takes off for Seattle, and
then rents a car to Arizona where he meets his incarcerated uncle who
advises him to have piece of pecan pie at local cafe. Be sure to ask
for Rosie. Rosie's pecan pie is actually a selection of guns, and she
accompanies Jackson to the Chicago suburb of Skokie which has a large
gypsy population. As a band of gypsies have claimed the Amati was
theirs to begin with, Jackson thinks he'll find the answers there to
all his questions, and who killed Amy Cox.
Fiddle Game is a
face-paced caper that keeps the reader guessing as to what happens
next. The characters are original and well drawn; each has a bit of a
rough side and no one is quite who they seem on the surface. Though the
plot moves along at breakneck speed, the writing is surprisingly well
balanced, especially for a first novel.
If Thompson can continue this level of excellence in subsequent books,
this will definitely be a series to look forward to. In the meantime,
enjoy Fiddle Game; it's a
real treat.
Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of Fiddle Game and to Poisoned Pen Press for providing an ARC of the book for this review.
Review Copyright © 2008 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved
Have you read Fiddle Game? How would you rate it?
Mysteries in this series …
Fiddle Game
Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover), January 2008
ISBN-10: 1-59058-455-4 (1590584554)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-455-2 (9781590584552)
Frag Box
Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover), November 2009
ISBN-10: 1-59058-678-6 (1590586786)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-678-5 (9781590586785)
Omnimystery keywords for Fiddle Game ...
Location(s) referenced: St. Paul, Minnesota,
Seattle, Arizona, Chicago, Illinois..
