THE LOUD ADIOS

The Long Goodbye meets The Wild Bunch in this dark, atmospheric tale of mystery, violence, and international intrigue in 1943 Tijuana, where Clifford Rose's ethereally innocent sister Wendy has been kidnapped by a crew of Nazi Satanists. As ringleaders Juan and Frank Metzger and monstrous Se§or Zarp dangle Wendy just out of Clifford's reach, he gets a big assist from p.i.-turned-MP Tom Hickey (still trying to exorcise his own departed womenfolk), Hickey's old partner Leo Weiss, and a one-eyed cabbie named Tito, all of whom will carry on the wildly escalating fight—even after Clifford, among many others, abruptly checks out—to rescue Wendy, foil a German plot to overthrow the government of Baja California, and retrieve a fortune in gold. As in Kuhlken's mainstream debut Midheaven (1980), the baroque plot finally spirals out of control—but not before hatching a memorably sweaty, smoky, hellish portrait of wartime Mexico. This is the fifth winner in St. Martin's Best First Private Eye Novel contest.