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Highly recommended
The third Eddie Dancer mystery is (so far, anyway) the best in the series. Advertising executive Paul Miller plays Good Samaritan when he observes a man abusing a woman (who turns out to be the man's wife). For his trouble, Miller winds up in the hospital, beaten up by the abusive husband, Victor Shriver; not only that, Miller is also under indictment on assault charges. So far we're on pretty standard ground, but here comes the twist: Paul and Victor decide to settle their differences in the boxing ring. When Miller's wife asks Dancer to help put a stop to the foolishness, her seemingly simple request gets very complicated, very quickly. Harrison has a lot of fun with the Dancer mysteries, taking the hard-boiled format and twisting it right to the edge of comedy (but never fully crossing the line). These are the kinds of crime novels the reader sinks right into, so comfortable with the hero that we have no trouble buying the premise, however outrageous it may be. Highly recommended for fans of hard-boiled private-eye yarns told with a light touch.
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