The Bad Ending - A Palm Springs Mystery (Paperback)

An old-school mystery set in modern Palm Springs When voluptuous Kathryn West hires hard-boiled detective Alex Mulvaney to investigate the death of her terminally ill son, David, Mulvaney canat help but take the case. The problem is, no one but Kathryn believes David was murdered. Mulvaneyas investigation leads him from one dead end to another, with the mafia dogging his and Kathrynas every move. Meanwhile, the body count is climbing. Can Mulvaney unravel the mystery before he and Kathryn join the list of victims? The Bad Ending isnat a lost Dashiell Hammett manuscript, but it could be. The pared-down staccato prose, the classic femme fatale, the dry humor, the dark and abrupt conclusionaevery element of the classic Hammett mystery is here. In many ways, Mulvaney resembles Hammettas nameless Continental Op, the blank slate made famous in novels like The Dain Curse and Red Harvest. As with Hammettas Continental Op tales, The Bad Ending is as much a mystery of character as plot. Who, exactly, is this pit bull of a detective?