Synopses & Reviews
Review
When laconic bookstore clerk Jill buys a rare Jack London first edition from an impatient dwarf, she buys herself a world of trouble. She unloads the London for a hefty profit but is confronted by a big guy who calls himself the Joke Man; he wants the book back and sets the dwarf's hair on fire as proof of the seriousness of his request. And so begins Jill's wild quest in search of the missing volume, which takes her to an antiquarian book fair, Las Vegas gambling casinos, and a Hollywood movie set. Along the way, she is drugged and tortured but makes a grand escape in a hijacked bottled-water delivery truck, all the while unleashing a steady stream of vicious, hilarious insults at whoever gets in her way. Jill's wicked wit and tough-girl demeanor make for a refreshing change of pace in a first novel that is part noir, part comic caper. A hard-boiled heroine for our times. Let the series begin. Booklist