UNDER THE BLACK FLAG - PIRACY IS NOT A VICTIMLESS CRIME (A BART LASITER MYSTERY)

In Guigli’s mystery sequel, a Sacramento-based private investigator digs into an increasingly complicated kidnapping case.

It’s 2007, and cop-turned-PI Bart Lasiter is initially “dumbstruck” by the attractive, blue-eyed, blond-haired woman who walks into his office, which doubles as his home. Mrs. Drake Concannon, as she calls herself, is distraught over her husband, Drake, a retired engineer and former consultant in the gambling industry who vanished while out on the lake in his small boat; she produces a ransom note she says she received, in which the anonymous perpetrators demand $5 million, due in two days’ time. Bart willingly accepts the case, assuring her that he’ll deliver the ransom personally and ensure her husband makes it home safely. In the meantime, he looks into identifying the kidnapper, or kidnappers; the ransom note ends with an apparent pirate insignia. Soon enough, Bart has a run-in with a trio of piratelike bikers—one of whom even has a stereotypical peg leg. Further investigation takes the PI to a yacht club and later reveals a possible Mafia connection. Unfortunately, the ransom drop-off doesn’t go quite as expected and Bart soon finds himself in peril. Guigli’s lowly protagonist, who first appeared in the novelette Bad News for a Ghost (2013), has some intriguing quirks, including the retro Casio wristwatch he wears and the fact that, prior to the investigation, he has to buy his pistol back from a pawnshop. He’s also armed with terrific allies, including his landlord and former police training officer, Fred Clifford, and resourceful friend/newspaper reporter, Al Wexler. The mystery itself is relatively lightweight, with few surprises; Bart is a methodical private eye who works with a to-do list, stealthily follows people, and smoothly questions others by roping them in with easygoing conversations. The final act also decelerates the action considerably; the elucidation of details takes a bit too long, and several chapters near the end deliver offer good lines that could have appealingly closed the novel, but don’t.

A shrewd, likable protagonist gives this straightforward crime novel a boost.