A client who isn't a client sends private eye Leonid McGill (Known to Evil, 2010, etc.) on his latest whirligig tour of New York's dark side.

Billionaire Cyril Tyler's first two wives, Allondra North and Pinky Todd, died suddenly and suspiciously. So it's only natural for their successor, painter Chrystal Chambers-Tyler, to fear what he might do if he learned she was paying a private detective to get information about his infidelities. When he wangles a meeting with the well-guarded Tyler, Leonid realizes that the situation's more complicated than that. Tyler pays Leonid $10,000 to deliver an awkwardly conciliatory message to Chrystal. But Leonid can't because his client has disappeared. In fact, she was never Chrystal in the first place but her sister, Shawna Chambers-Campbell. Clearly afraid that Tyler planned some violence against her sister, Shawna was only half-right, since she's the one who gets killed in front of her five children. Not enough complications for you? Leonid has also reluctantly agreed to find crooked organizer Harris Vartan's vanished associate William Williams, a man whose trail seems to lead from one interesting dead end to the next. And between his wife Katrina's continuing affairs, his own off-again romances, his stormy relationships with his children and the decline of his cancer-stricken friend Gordo Tallman as he lies in Leonid's apartment, the story of the detective's home life is just as hectic, and bound to end just as inconclusively.

A book filled with sharp individual scenes and hard-headed aphorisms.

PI Leonid McGill, a tough guy striving to make up for his past transgressions, carries a lot of baggage. When he was young, his father abandoned him and ran off to war somewhere, but Leonid's head is still filled with his father's revolutionary maxims. Leonid's best friend is dying of cancer in his apartment; Leonid loves his three children, but only one is really his; and his wife's cheating again. Mosley's plot is labyrinthine in this third series outing (after Known to Evil and The Long Fall), to say the least. A beautiful young woman hires Leonid to investigate her billionaire husband: she's convinced he plans to kill her. But the woman isn't who she says she is. Everyone lies to Leonid or hides things from him, but he plows ahead anyway. Mosley maintains interest until the end, when the plot fizzles out in a disappointing denouement VERDICT The scenes with Leonid's family are the best in the book, especially those that depict the sleuth's love for his wayward sons. Despite its flaws, this is an enjoyable book that will deservedly have fans. A welcome addition to a popular series. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 10/1/10.]—David Keymer, Modesto, CA

Mosley's most recent series hero, New York City PI Leonid McGill, is perhaps his most complex—intelligent and surprisingly thoughtful and philosophic for a man of action. Mirron Willis conveys McGill's every mood; his timbre, clarity, and precise elocution are of particular importance, where there is a surfeit of story elements to keep straight. The main plot involves a deceitful client and McGill's investigation of a powerful billionaire whose wives have died mysteriously. Not only is it tricky and filled with false leads, there are numerous subplots involving the detective's personal life. His son is running a con game. His stepson is under the spell of a beautiful sociopath. His friend is dying of cancer and a young boy he's helping is on the run from thugs. (And that's not the half of it.) Master storyteller Mosley smoothly gathers all the many threads into a tidy bow at book's end, but it's Willis's crisp delivery that keeps us on track until he does. A Riverhead hardcover. (Apr.)

Mosley fills his third thriller featuring New York City PI Leonid McGill (after Known to Evil) with insights even deeper than the mysteries McGill is trying to solve. Chrystal Tyler, a potential new client, tells McGill that she's afraid her billionaire husband is having an affair and may kill her. While McGill realizes the woman is lying, he needs the case and agrees to see what he can do to make her husband back off. Meanwhile, McGill's wife of 24 years, Katrina, is having an affair; his favorite son, Twill, has a new scam working; and longtime boxing mentor Gordo Tallman is living in his apartment, fighting cancer. Then Harris Vartan, a dangerous organized crime figure, asks a favor that will lead McGill on a journey of self-discovery. Readers will encounter the full panoply of complex Mosley characters, from deceitful women to ruthless killers, but it's the often surprising bonds of love and family that lift this raw, unsentimental novel. (Mar.)