Charles Hardway was looking for a respite from caring for his AIDS-stricken lover Randy Carpenter. That's why he was at Toby's bar having a glass of wine. That's why he left early--alone--but it didn't begin to explain why someone beat him to death with a lead pipe. Robbery? Gay bashing? Either way it's murder, and Lieutenant Frank Hastings, co-commander of San Francisco's homicide unit, assigns the case to detective Janet Collier, who discovers that Hardway and Carpenter were blackmailing someone to get AZT, the expensive drug used in AIDS treatment. Carpenter, himself within months of death, reveals their victim to be Harold Best, senatorial candidate and son-in-law of California's leading power broker, James Forster. Hastings and Collier know the trail leads back to Forster, but they can't find the right lead. Wilcox's Hastings series moves to a new, more complex level with this entry. Hastings is not just a homicide dick with a human side; he's an intricately drawn character who is struggling with his inability to separate his work from the rest of his life. Very few can compartmentalize their lives, Wilcox seems to be saying, and those who try seem doomed to fail. A haunting novel. Wes Lukowsky
Review
“[An] old pro.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Boils with life. . . . Complex and involving.” —Ross Macdonald on Disappearance
“Gives San Francisco an authentic urban grip the city hasn’t felt since Hammett.” —Booklist on Hire a Hangman
About the Author
Collin Wilcox (1924–1996) was an American author of mystery fiction. Born in Detroit, he set most of his work in San Francisco, beginning with 1967's The Black Door—a noir thriller starring a crime reporter with extrasensory perception. Under the pen name Carter Wick, he published several standalone mysteries including The Faceless Man (1975) and Dark House, Dark Road (1982), but he found his greatest success under his own name, with the celebrated Frank Hastings series.
Hastings, a football player turned San Francisco homicide detective, made his debut in The Lonely Hunter (1969), and Wilcox continued to follow him for the rest of his career, publishing nearly two dozen novels in the series, which concludes with Calculated Risk (1995). Wilcox's other best-known series stars Alan Bernhardt, a theatrical director with a habit of getting involved in behind-the-scenes mysteries. Bernhardt appeared in four more books after his introduction in 1988's Bernhardt's Edge.
