Loose Coins (A Mystery Featuring Al Sears)

Joe L. Hensley, a former circuit court judge and lawyer, writes his series of mysteries about a detective with a similar background to his own (Robak's Witch, Robak's Fire) with a perfect ear for the nuances of small-time criminality. Now he and Indiana prosecutor Guy M. Townsend have caught that same voice in their first joint effort.

"I might have heard a little," a seedy little coin hustler is telling private eye Al Sears about rumors of a contract on Al's life. "I can't remember where it came from. I just heard it said around, after the story in the papers, that maybe that night at the game might not be the last time someone would try to get you. I guess it's for something bad you did. Bar talk and coin talk is that someone wants you in the grave."

Al, a former hotshot lawyer laid low by booze, is working part-time in the coin shop where he spent much of his former money. When a would-be robber of a poker game turns out to be an unsuccessful assassin, Al is forced to search through the pockets of his past for clues to who might want him dead. A glamorous ex-wife is a good suspect, likewise a couple of supposed pals. Even in the current tidal wave of alcoholic detectives, Sears has enough going for him to make a return visit worth waiting for. --Dick Adler