DEFICIT ENDING

by Lee Martin ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 22, 1990

Fort Worth's small but rugged Police Detective Deb Ralston--mother of three-month-old Cameron--has returned to her job just in time to be faced with the first of a series of bank robberies. They all involve small branch banks; two men; cars borrowed from used-car lots; a blonde woman using the names of movie actresses; and the taking of a hostage who usually winds up dead. As the killers move to cover their tracks, they leave still more innocent victims in their wake. Deb's strenuous efforts to juggle her investigative duties with breast-feeding her baby, as well as providing meals and laundry for teen-age son Hal (Hal's Own Murder Case) and unemployed ex-pilot husband Harry, are exhaustively detailed. So are the police routines of covering the crime scene and the techniques of fingerprinting and Identikits. In the end it's a dumb mistake on the part of the criminals--along with the most tentative kind of identification--that points Deb in the right direction. Her instincts and persistence push her past seemingly solid alibis to a foolhardy confrontation and a last-minute rescue. Routine puzzle enlivened with some colorful touches. The author's chatty, down-home style moves things along in this modestly entertaining Texas-style police procedural.

Pub Date: March 22, 1990

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1990

Categories: FICTION