Private investigator August Riordan returns to San Francisco to avenge the death of his friend and one-time partner, Chris Duckworth. Duckworth has taken over Riordanâs old business, his old office and even his old apartment, and Riordan suspects Duckworthâs death is linked to the missing person case he was working when he died.
An alluring young woman named Angelina hired Duckworth to look for her half-sister, but what Riordan finds instead is a murderous polyamorous family intent on claiming a previously unknown manuscript from dead Beat writer Jack Kerouac.
Following clues from Duckworth and a trail of mutilated bodies left by the family, Riordan soon realizes that avenging his partner will first involve recovering the manuscriptâand then saving Angelina and himself from kidnap, torture and death. As the bodies pile up, Riordan must work with old allies and enemies to untangle Duckworthâs last case before time runs out.
Praise for THE DEAD BEAT SCROLL:
âSlick, sardonic and suspensefulâeverything a great thriller should be.â âLee Child, bestselling author of the Jack Reacher novels
âFast-paced excursion into the remnants of San Francisco's lost bohemiaâŚAlternately comic, sad, lurid, impossible, blasphemous, and just plain fun.â âDomenic Stansberry, Edgar Award-winning author of the North Beach Mystery Series
"Glorious potpourri of violence, black humor ... sex, and a hunt for a lost manuscript... Read THE DEAD BEAT SCROLL and enjoy again the type of mystery novel that defined this genre." âNew York Journal of Books