The publisher of a start-up local magazine has waltzed away with money collected from his prospective advertisers, one being the manager of an elegant new hotel—who hires Milan Jacovich to track him down and get the money back. What Milan quickly finds out is that the hotel is actually owned by mob boss Giancarlo D’Allessandro and his nephew, Victor Gaimari, who send a giant ex-con named Buddy Bustamente—a violent man with a weakness for ice cream—to “help” Milan investigate what soon becomes a murder.

“Fast-paced and smoothly narrated, Milan’s adventures take him to working-class and ethnic neighborhoods in a middle-American city. It’s a nice change of scene.” (Washington Post Book World)

Excerpt: He was medium size, if you happened to be talking about Cape buffalos, about six foot six and pushing 280, and not much of it was fat, either. The loud breathing came through a nose that had long ago been broken and hadn’t been set properly. His skin had the kind of pallor that comes from a lot of years out of the sun—like in the penitentiary out of the sun. He was wearing the type of lowbrow outfit that unkind newspaper columnists have dubbed the “Full Cleveland”—a polyester leisure suit, this one in bilious lime green. A white belt bisected his paunch, and a pair of matching shiny white shoes with a few black scuffmarks on the toes completed the ensemble.

“Mr. Gaimari told me to bring you,”he said. “I just work here.”

“And what if I don’t want to get brung?”

He shrugged and smiled almost apologetically. “Then it’s gonna be you and me.”

Publisher: Gray & Company (2005)

Pages: 222

Original Publisher: St. Martin’s Press (1989)