Beggar's Choice: A Nick Polo Mystery - Hardcover

Kennealy, Jerry

3.4

10 ratings by Goodreads

9780312114787: Beggar's Choice: A Nick Polo Mystery

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312114788 ISBN 13: 9780312114787

Publisher: St Martins Pr, 1994

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

Volunteering at a local soup kitchen, Polo gets to know Scratchy, a self-described "sidewalk architect." With a Food for Vets sign in hand, Scratchy spends his days at his "office," a freeway off-ramp in downtown San Francisco, where certain drivers are exceptionally generous. Scratchy asks Polo to check the license-plate numbers of the charitably minded individuals, and Polo comes up with a multimillionaire shipowner and a mysterious ex-CIA agent. But before he can give Scratchy the information, the man is dead, the apparent victim of a hit-and-run.
The police have little interest in the accidental death of a homeless man, so at the urging of the soup kitchen's operator, Father Tomasello, Polo decides to investigate. What he finds takes him up against the Dragon Head of the Chinese Mafia, whose connections with the shipping magnate and the ex-CIA agent threaten not only Polo but his friends and family, too.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

About the Author:

Jerry Kennealy has worked as a police officer, as well as a licensed private investigator, adding great authenticity to his novels. Besides the Polo mysteries, two of which have been nominated for Shamus Awards, he's written several non-series thrillers lately. He's a member of the Mystery Writers of America and the Private Eye Writers of America.

From Kirkus Reviews:

As a favor to his homeless acquaintance Scratchy, Nick Polo agrees to run down a few license plate numbers without knowing why. Big mistake. By the time Polo has identified the three drivers Scratchy was interested in--would-be San Francisco mayor Lester Maurence, Chinatown gang boss Henry Lee, and dirty-dealing ex-cop Al Davis--a car has backed over Scratchy, Polo's already started to get phone threats suggesting what a good idea it would be if he forgot about the case, and (just to make sure he takes the hint) his longtime tenant Mrs. Damonte is nearly killed in a not-so- mysterious fire at his place. The police aren't likely to find the perps anytime this century--the inspector on the hit-and-run is indifferent, the sergeant on the arson inept, and a pair of cops from Internal Affairs interested mainly in harassing Polo--so Polo determines to run down his only lead: a world-class fake Rolex that Scratchy pawned for $650 the day before he died. The search will lead Polo from friendly drinks with his Uncle Dominic, a prudent bookie, to an evening's brisk exercise with his burglar friend Hootsie; but since Kennealy (Vintage Polo, 1993, etc.), as usual, isn't much interested in coming up with murder suspects, the ending won't elevate your pulse rate dangerously. A little of this, a little of that, not too much of anything: a middling entry in this middling series. Watch out for Polo's incessant editorial asides, though; he's in danger of getting as sententious, in his good-humored way, as Andy Rooney. -- Copyright �1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.