The deal goes down

From the gripping opening line, "The woman on the train asked me to kill someone," Edgar winner Beinhart never takes his foot off the gas in the outstanding fourth outing for Tony Cassella (after 1991's Foreign Exchange). Now 70 and still devastated by the deaths of his wife and son from years before, former PI Cassella has retired to the Catskills. En route to yet another funeral of an old friend, he's approached in the Amtrak café car by a woman he barely knows, Maddie McMunchun, who casually mentions that she wants her wealthy husband dead and offers Cassella $100,000 to murder him. Casella, whose house is 36 hours away from being foreclosed, surprises himself by agreeing. But when the time comes for the down payment for the hit to be handed off, Maddie shows up with a partner, Liz Carter, an attorney who states that she's backing the killing as part of a new venture. Instead of financing litigation that promises profits for Liz, Maddie is launching a business financing homicides. Filled with thoughtfully developed characters, the plot takes further unexpected but entertaining detours. Fans of darkly funny crime dramas such as Fargo will be hooked. (Aug.)

Aging ex-private eye Tony Casella is feeling down. He lives on a dirt road in a remote part of the Catskills with a mortgage he can't pay. His daughter doesn't want anything to do with him. On his way to an old friend's funeral, he is approached by a woman on the train. Her husband has abused her, but divorce would mean she wouldn't get a share of his millions. Inheriting his fortune would be so much better. Tony, on a whim, agrees to help her. The wife has connected with a law firm that plans to offer concierge services--including contract killing--to women at the highest levels of society. This results in a hilarious series of consequences including an accidental murder in the Austrian Alps and a job offer from the FBI. Beinhart (The Librarian) creates an over-the-top story with quirky characters who can't seem to stay on topic. Narrator Paul Heitsch is an excellent fit, expertly using voices from deadpan to Russian oligarch and capturing the outlandish humor in this fast-paced novel. VERDICT Readers may come for the crime but stay for the humor. Beinhart's fans should enjoy this recommended listen.--Joanna M. Burkhardt

In his latest appearance, aging ex--private eye Tony Cassella is drawn into a murder-for-hire scheme that puts him in the crosshairs of a thuggish Russian oligarch called God. A man of many guises, the 70-year-old Tony is in a depressed state when he encounters an expensively dressed woman with a dangerous plan on an Amtrak train. He's headed to the funeral of an old friend, his daughter wants nothing to do with him following the death of his wife and son, and his prized home in Woodstock, New York, is about to be foreclosed. The wealthy woman, Maddie, who knows he used to be a detective, offers him $100,000 to kill her abusive and philandering husband. She is backed by Elizabeth, a financier who invests in "good causes." The husband, dosed with LSD, gets what's coming. ("Is it possible to have a satirical hallucination?" asks a chapter heading.) Tony, while being pursued by his former partner for a share of the big payoff, is pressured into traveling to an Austrian resort to rescue an American woman and her young son from the nasty clutches of her billionaire Russian husband, Grigor God Voloshin. Guns get pulled, people get killed, and Tony survives to spin out tough-guy witticisms and random thoughts, dropping cultural references ranging from Nietzsche to The Mickey Mouse Club to The Maltese Falcon. Determinedly offbeat, the book has as one of its characters a well-connected novelist named Larry Beinhart. The riffing can at times be a bit much. But the enjoyment the real Beinhart derives from his spritzing, free-wheeling approach lifts the book, which at its best is a cross between Stanley Elkin and Raymond Chandler. A comic noir with a voice all its own. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Edgar Award winner Beinhart (The Librarian) returns with a new novel starring detective Tony Casella (last seen in 1991's Foreign Exchange). Now a 70-year-old ex-PI, Casella boards a train in upstate New York. In the club car, he's approached by a woman he's never met who asks if he can kill her abusive—and fabulously wealthy—husband. Tony's broke, his house is up for foreclosure; he says yes. It needs to be done soon, before the husband can hide his money. Eventually, Tony notches up three kills, though none in ways he expected. En route, everything that can go wrong does. An associate tries to take Tony's earnings. Government agents trail him. He's sent to Switzerland to assassinate a truly scary Russian oligarch. One of the great creations in the book is Tony's accomplice, Allison, a young sex worker who looks like (and was) a Bard College undergraduate. An interesting twist: Beinhart appears as a character in his own novel. As one might expect of the author whose novel American Hero morphed into the DeNiro film Wag the Dog, Beinhart is a sly dog who glories in surprise twists and lards his story with unexpected land mines. VERDICT There's enough action in this thoroughly enjoyable comedy of errors to please the most discriminating reader, but it's the humor that captures. For fans of crime capers and Donald Westlake's "Dortmunder" tales.—David Keymer

From the gripping opening line, "The woman on the train asked me to kill someone," Edgar winner Beinhart never takes his foot off the gas in the outstanding fourth outing for Tony Cassella (after 1991's Foreign Exchange). Now 70 and still devastated by the deaths of his wife and son from years before, former PI Cassella has retired to the Catskills. En route to yet another funeral of an old friend, he's approached in the Amtrak café car by a woman he barely knows, Maddie McMunchun, who casually mentions that she wants her wealthy husband dead and offers Cassella $100,000 to murder him. Casella, whose house is 36 hours away from being foreclosed, surprises himself by agreeing. But when the time comes for the down payment for the hit to be handed off, Maddie shows up with a partner, Liz Carter, an attorney who states that she's backing the killing as part of a new venture. Instead of financing litigation that promises profits for Liz, Maddie is launching a business financing homicides. Filled with thoughtfully developed characters, the plot takes further unexpected but entertaining detours. Fans of darkly funny crime dramas such as Fargo will be hooked. (Aug.)