If you're looking for gritty, The Right Wrong Number is as gritty as Number 36 sandpaper. Ed Earl Burch is former cop and now a private-eye. He can't resist the wrong women, and when he gets a call from his former lover whose husband has disappeared, he takes the case, even knowing he shouldn't. As it happens the husband has faked his death because he owes money to some people who will be happy to have him killed to get the money back. And because they think the wife might be involved, they'd be happy to kill her, too. The husband would also like to kill her.
Soon enough, they'd all be happy to kill Ed Earl, and they do try. There's a Dallas cop who'd also like to see Ed Earl dead or at least maimed because he thinks Ed Earl is responsible for the death of his partner. Ed Earl takes so much punishment in the course of the book that it's amazing that he's still able to stand, but he presses on.
There are some great Texas scenes, including a set piece at the Houston Rodeo, and there's a good bit of Texas travel between Houston and Dallas and out to the Big Bend country.
The Right Wrong Number has a lot of sex and violence in many combinations. It's dark and hard boiled. And I've already mentioned gritty. If that's what you're looking for, this one fills the bill.
5 comments:
I read one of his books, probably 30 years ago now, and thought it was pretty mediocre. This one sounds a lot more interesting.
If it was thirty years ago you probably read a book by Jim Nisbett, with an I. He wrote several noirish novels in the 1980s.
Thanks for the great review, Bill. High praise from an author whose stories I've long admired. And as Randy Clark pointed out, I'm the other Jim Nesbitt -- there's a half dozen ways the family name is spelled. Hopefully, Jeffrey will find my book better than mediocre.
Thanks for stopping by, Jim. Enjoyed the book. I've read "the other Jim Nesbitt," too. Different guy, different kind of books.
Deeply appreciated, Bill. Hope to get to Texas this spring to hawk the book and would love to buy you an adult beverage.
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