Springer's Gambit: A Cole Springer Mystery - Hardcover

Ripley, W. L.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312274564 ISBN 13: 9780312274566

Publisher: Minotaur Books, 2001

Synopsis

Aspen-- the American Riviera-- where the rich and the beautiful go to play. Quiet streets, breathtaking mountains, and one of the lowest crime rates in America. But that's about to change.

Real estate speculator Max Shapiro has been cleaning the San Francisco mob's money for three decades. Then the hammer drops-- he's dying of cancer and is on borrowed time. Resentful of the mob's hold and not wishing to die with an IV hose in his arm, Max tells the mob he isn't paying any more tribute, hoping they'll send someone to kill him. While vacationing in Aspen, however, Max gets a call from his doctor. Good news. Max isn't dying after all. But it's too late to call off the mob's killers. Max's only hope is the enigmatic Cole Springer-- an ex-Secret Service agent with a penchant for creative thinking-- broke and in danger of losing his Aspen nightclub. Shapiro needs a bodyguard and Springer needs money, so they cut a protection deal. Enter Gerry "Knucks" Nugent, a cerebral and deadly hit man in the midst of a midlife crisis who has been sent to kill Shapiro.

A mob boss dies in 'Frisco, there is a struggle for power, and an emergency cache of three million dollars ends up in the hands of Nicky Tortino, a merciless Bay Area crime lord. The shift in the underworld command sends shock waves rippling across the western United States, affecting even Shapiro and Nugent.

Meanwhile, Springer's active mind runs to larger themes than merely protecting Shapiro, and he begins to formulate a scheme to save Shapiro and get his hands on the three million. Springer's scam depends upon recruiting Nugent, and Nugent is widely feared-- even by his ruthless bosses on the West Coast.

Bay Area underboss Nicky Tortino travels to Aspen to get Shapiro to launder the three million, and also to have both Springer and Shapiro killed. The law closes in and Springer is running out of time and options. Beset on all sides, Springer designs an elaborate sting to extricate Shapiro and himself from the deadly web that has formed around them. But can he trust Nugent?

About this title

About the Author

W. L. Ripley, author of the critically acclaimed Wyatt Storme series, is back with a vengeance in this, his fourth novel. Ripley takes us to three of the most fascinating cities in the American West-- Aspen, Las Vegas, and San Francisco-- in this gritty yet often humorous tale of murder, double-cross, and triple-cross.

Reviews

Mystery veteran Ripley, author of the Wyatt Storme series, has a winning new hero in Cole Springer, smart-mouthed, piano-playing Aspen saloonkeeper and wily former Secret Service agent. With a keen ear for cop and criminal patois, and a penetrating eye for ironic personal foibles both reminiscent of Elmore Leonard Ripley puts the reader right in the middle of this conflict of tough guys hopelessly out of place in the pristine ski resort town. When mob money-launderer Max Shapiro is diagnosed with terminal cancer and only six weeks to live, he comes up with a plan that redefines assisted suicide: he tells San Francisco wiseguy wannabe Nicky Tortino that he won't be paying him off anymore. Fortunately (or in this case, unfortunately), the doctor has made a mistake, and Max is going to live at least until Nicky's boys get their hands on him. Hiding out in Aspen, Max and his girlfriend, Suzi Carr, persuade Springer, short on cash and with his bar facing foreclosure, to protect him. Max soon begins to wonder if maybe he'd be better off dead, as Springer's sharp tongue and unpredictability are wearing. State, federal and local police including Tobi Ryder and "FBI lounge lizard" Jack Summers, bickering ex-lovers assigned to Max's case become involved when killers of varying degrees of accomplishment begin arriving from the coast to finish Max off, but Springer has a plan to deal their way out. Ripley creates some colorful characters most of whom dislike one another and provides them with enough history to keep them interesting. Plenty of politically incorrect wisecracking and a suspenseful, fast-moving plot suggest that this will be the first of many entertaining outings for Cole Springer. (June)
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This one's going to be fun. You can tell when Max Shapiro, Aspen real-estate mogul and money launderer, finds out he has cancer and decides not to pay off the Mob anymore. Then he finds out it isn't cancer, but, damn, it's too late to call off the hit man. He hires Cole Springer, ex-Secret Service agent turned piano player, to protect him, but Springer thinks Max is a jerk. He is, but a lovable one, just like the rest of the cast: hitman Gerry Knucks, who's tired of taking orders from small-time Mobster Nicky; Suzy Carr, Max's no-nonsense girlfriend who kind of likes Knucks; and Tobi Ryder, Colorado state cop, who kind of likes Springer. Before you can say screwball caper, Springer has hatched a plot to steal a wad of stolen Mob money, using Max as bait. Knucks and Suzi are game, but Tobi presents a problem. The plot keeps you guessing, the banter keeps you laughing, and the sexual chemistry keeps you hoping. Don't these guys know they're supposed to be in an Elmore Leonard novel? Pray that Ripley holds onto them long enough to get a series going. Bill Ott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Minotaur Books
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0312274564
• ISBN 13: 9780312274566
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272