The Crime Czar

Tubby Dubonnet, the raffish, slightly bemused Big Easy lawyer is back in another spicy bayou stew of Southern damsels in distress and sleazy New Orleans politicians. Tubby's about to become a grandfather, but it's no standard midlife crisis that has him sipping a few too many old-fashioneds and letting his practice languish. He's depressed by the death of his best friend in a shootout for which he feels responsible, and he's determined to find the killers and make them pay for their crime. The trail leads to a corrupt sheriff, a hooker with the proverbial golden heart, and a mother-loving murderer. While Tubby sets up a sting to reel the bad guys in--a worthless franchise for a women's boxing league--he also helps out an old friend's reelection campaign. As usual, Tony Dunbar covers local politics with his trademarked waggish humor. The crayfish boil featuring an out-of-control float, complete with a massacre by three Vietnamese waiters bent on their own vengeance, is worth its weight in fake jewels--which, incidentally, also figure in the plot. Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiaasen fans will see the ending coming, but it won't matter a bit. And faithful series readers will delight in Tubby's sixth wacky adventure. --Jane Adams