Brian A. Hopkins, Lipstick, Lies, and Lady Luck

Lipstick, Lies, and Lady Luck

Brian A. Hopkins

Five Star, Jul 2004, $25.95

ISBN: 1594140707

"The Licking Valley Coon Hunters Club". At Los Angeles Airport, a sick looking thug carrying a syringe with bad blood inside it abducts former cop Martin Zolotow using the hypodermic as a weapon. The thug escorts Martin by air to Oklahoma City where two more punks greet him. They take Zolo to Tobias Washington; he blackmails Zolo by threatening to kill a friend if the sleuth fails to rescue his daughter from rival Jimmy McDevitt and the pig farmer's so-called vampires. Zolo works the case, but is triple crossed at every step as the two gang lords compete over illegal drug trafficking.

"The Bikini Bottoms Optional Oyster Bar". Zolo barely survives a dunking in the Gulf of Mexico though he cannot remember why someone would toss him into the sea. Widow Jacob Mathias helps Zolo recover at his place in Apalachicola, Florida. Zolo starts to remember his client Henry McGill wanted him to learn what happened to internet stripper Lena, who he believes was murdered. Now Zolo struggles to learn how he got embroiled with mobsters wanting him dead starting with the strip joint The Bikini Bottoms Optional Oyster Bar.

These two novellas star an intriguing knight in shining armor sleuth who has memory problems that will remind readers of Memento's Leonard Shelby. Both tales are well written as the hero struggles to keep track of what he knows, which he quickly forgets unless he writes it down (should try a Polaroid). Brian A. Hopkins furbishes a unique private investigator who is one part Boy Scout and one part Noir.

Harriet Klausner