Following an earthquake, Cornelius McPherson, the Colorado Department of Transportation’s chief maintenance inspector for the Eisenhower Memorial Tunnel, discovers a frozen human arm amid the rubble of a partial tunnel collapse. The arm, which sports a distinctive tattoo, is well preserved, and McPherson quickly recognizes it as having belonged to a long-ago friend named Antoine Ducane, a rock-hauling truck driver who, like McPherson, had been part of the construction crew that built the tunnel during the late sixties and early seventies.

Some 35 years ago, after a night of drinking and whoring, Ducane had announced to McPherson that he knew who killed President John F. Kennedy. But then, everyone had a pet theory about who killed Kennedy—the lone assassin, the mob, the Cubans, et al—and McPherson gave the matter little thought. Soon after, Ducane went missing, and McPherson went on with his life.

With the recovery of Ducane’s skull by the local sheriff’s crime scene unit proving that Ducane’s death was no accident, media attention focuses on McPherson, a publicity chaser who is soon gunned down at the whim of powerful people who want long-buried secrets to remain buried.  

Enter CJ Floyd, an antiques dealer, bail bondsman, and former bounty hunter now in partnership with retired Denver crime boss Mario Santoni. When local and federal investigators aim their investigation at Santoni, CJ and an eclectic group of friends and associates begin their own investigation into various murders, attempted murders, disappearances and cover-ups, putting themselves in the line of fire of increasingly desperate men.

Although The Mongoose Deception, Greer’s sixth novel in the CJ Floyd series, is an intricately plotted, complex and sometimes convoluted story, it’s never confusing.  It’s a well told tale that’s sure to fascinate as much as it entertains.

 

A native of Columbus, Ohio, and a long-time Denver resident, Robert Greer is a professor of pathology, medicine, surgery, and dentistry at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. Author of novels, medical textbooks, and numerous short stories, he founded The High Plains Literary Review and presently serves as its editor-in-chief. In addition to writing, medicine, and research, Greer reviews books for a Denver National Public Radio affiliate, KUVO, and raises cattle on his ranch near Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

Visit Robert’s Web site at www.robertgreerbooks.com/.

Review by Phil Hanson, for FSB Associates