Murder Manual

The bestselling toast of Tennessee, author Robert Jefferson Reed has made big bucks with his little book of folksy homilies like "Never go to bed angry" and "Eat your vegetables." He should have included "Don't commit murder." For when Reed's wife hires P.I. Harry James Denton to catch her hubby in a tryst with a sexy secretary, Harry finds the author of Life's Little Maintenance Manual strangled and drowned in his own hot tub.

Caught at the scene of the crime, Harry is pegged as the prime suspect and must work double duty to avoid the specter of prison--and to pluck a murderer out of a dead man's tangled past. . . .

From the Paperback edition.

ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW ABOUT MURDER I LEARNED IN NASHVILLE

The bestselling toast of Tennessee, author Robert Jefferson Reed has made big bucks with his little book of folksy homilies like "Never go to bed angry" and "Eat your vegetables." He should have included "Don't commit murder." For when Reed's wife hires P.I. Harry James Denton to catch her hubby in a tryst with a sexy secretary, Harry finds the author of Life's Little Maintenance Manual strangled and drowned in his own hot tub.

Caught at the scene of the crime, Harry is pegged as the prime suspect and must work double duty to avoid the specter of prison—and to pluck a murderer out of a dead man's tangled past. . . .

Publishers Weekly

New Orleans private investigator Harry James Denton is down on his luck: his money has run out and his pregnant girlfriend has broken up with him. Then, he's asked to find a bestselling author who's cheating on his wife. Unfortunately, Harry finds the writerdeadand he's the prime suspect. Harry, whose first outing in Dead Folks' Blues won his creator an Edgar, is still an appealing character, and once again Womack captures the laid-back, old-boy network of New Orleans. However, the plot isn't strong; there's a subplot involving Harry's landlady and another involving corruption at the coroner's officeboth of which overshadow Harry's current case. Fans of Harry Denton will read along, but readers wanting a captivating whodunit won't find it here. (June)

Steven Womack lives in Nashville, Tennessee. He is the author of the Edgar Award-winning mystery Dead Folks' Blues, as well as Torch Town Boogie, Way Past Dead, and Chain of Fools. Mr. Womack is also the screenwriter for two made-for-TV movies: the Cable Ace-nominated Proudheart and Volcano: Fire on the Mountain.