THE LION'S SHARE

Bad news, good news. Jimmy Flannery's mentor, Chips Delvin, is dead of a heart attack, and the house he's left his old protÇgÇ can't make up for the holes he's left in Chicago's 27th Precinct and Jimmy's heart. On the other hand, former Congressman Leo Lundatos has suddenly taken a fatherly interest in Jimmy, whom he wants to run as committeeman to Leo the Lion's alderman, with an option of the alderman's seat next time around. The only problem is that Jimmy can link Leo to the very proper call girl who was Chips's last companion—and who's already followed him to the mortuary. Will Jimmy, the consummate ward-heeler, yield to temptation, or will he pull every string he can to get to the bottom of the lady's death? Even more than Jimmy's other adventures, his tenth (Sauce for the Goose, 1995, etc.) is just barely plotted—with the tiny mystery shrouded in glad-handing, blarney, and homespun philosophy—and altogether delightful.