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Sometimes it just doesn't pay to help a relative. Female PI Micki Garrity learns this lesson the hard way in J. Michael Blue's latest novel, A FAVOR FOR ZODIAC. When Tim Carniston suddenly shows up in the parking garage of Micki's office building and takes a headlong dive into the back seat of her car, it doesn't take long for the PI to discover that her cousin is in trouble -- again. A small-time loser who prefers the moniker "Zodiac" to his birth name, bad boy Tim has seen the inside of a prison more than once. Unfortunately, he never seems to learn from the experience. Tim's current scam involves stealing from his boss, a local Florida mobster. As a "smurf", Tim's job is to deposit drug money in various banks throughout the county, always in amounts less than what needs to be reported to the Feds. Tim does his work well until the day he meets another scam artist selling diamonds. Thinking he can make a killing on the deal, Tim skims some loot from the laundry bag of small bills to buy the stones. He tells Micki he intended to repay the money before his employer discovered the loss, but now the drug lord is on to him and out for revenge. Tim convinces Micki to act as a go-between in a settlement attempt with his boss. Driven by family loyalty, Micki takes on the job. Her efforts are thwarted, though, when a body shows up and Tim disappears with both the money and the diamonds. When a second PI enters the scene, things become even more complicated. Tony Smith is a "take-it-into-your-own-hands" sort of guy who is after Tim's boss due to his side business of selling weapons to Third World countries. His offer to team up with Micki arouses her suspicions, but in the end, she has no choice but to cooperate with Smith in an attempt to save Tim's life. Micki Garrity is a tough character who endures a good bit of physical punishment in this semi-hardboiled PI novel by J. Michael Blue. Blue is an award-winning short fiction writer with 75 stories and one previously published novel to his credit. In A FAVOR FOR ZODIAC, he does a good job of depicting the current state of the drug business in America and the people who profit from the trade. His characters are believable, his writing precise, and his settings well described. I'd recommend this book for those who enjoy PI mysteries and don't mind their female characters getting roughed up in the course of the action.
Reviewed by Mary V. Welk, March 2002
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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