THE THREE-NINE LINE

A wry spy goes undercover in modern-day Vietnam to solve a murder with roots in the failed war.

Hanoi cops drag a corpse out of the river, and one of them recognizes the dead man from the newspapers. A former guard at the infamous Hanoi Hilton, he's the one American pilots nicknamed Mr. Wonderful, "because he wasn't." Could it be a coincidence that the victim recently had a tense reunion with three American vets, former Vietnam POWS, who had flown back to Hanoi seeking closure with the prison guard who tortured them? The State Department decides that a covert investigation is needed and asks former fighter pilot and freelance assassin Cordell Logan (Voodoo Ridge, 2014, etc.), who's making a good living with flying lessons and airborne tours, to conduct it. Logan, who narrates with tongue firmly in cheek, goes undercover as a psychologist named Bob Barker, a name that doesn't give him much confidence in Max, his handler, who created his new identity. Since the three former POWs, Cohen, Halladay, and Stoneburner, present a united front in claiming their collective innocence, Logan/Barker proceeds gingerly. The nights are hard, as the death of his beloved ex-wife, Savannah, six months ago still burns. Logan's probing gets him the wrong kind of attention, and local authorities want him to back off, but he persists at great personal risk. Insurance money and rape press him to look closer to home for a killer, but is he being misled?

Logan's fourth adventure is a nifty detective story with juicy writing and a very likable hero.