The Time of the Wolf - Hardcover

Blankenship, William D.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1556115482 ISBN 13: 9781556115486

Publisher: Dutton Adult, 1998

Synopsis

Believed to have vanished - along with Jim Bowie - when the Alamo fell, the original Bowie knife is the stuff of American myth. Now the knife, with its dark history of violence and bloodshed, is rumored to have surfaced from the archives of a prominent Mexican family. But Connecticut antiques dealer Kay Williams, dispatched to Texas to purchase it for a wealthy client, is experienced enough to know that when large sums of money change hands, risk is an inevitable part of the transaction. Especially when no one at the celebrated Austin auction house knows if the Bowie blade is the real thing.
With millions at stake and emotions running high on the bidding room floor, a centuries-old legend explodes into modern times - with deadly results. Because one among the ruthless bidders is a cunning criminal. Another is a federal agent. And a third is a cold-blooded killer with the perfect disguise...a predator driven by dark, primal motives, and whose chilling agenda is unfolding in Kay's deepening shadow.

About this title

Review

Antiques dealer par excellence Kay Williams has had her well-manicured, shapely hands on world-class gimcracks before: a Fabergé egg or two, Adolph Hitler's personal pistol, a diamond tiara from the estate of J. Paul Getty. But the object of desire in this second book about Williams by the veteran crime writer William D. Blankenship makes them all look like so much junk. Kay is one of six people at a private auction in Austin, Texas, bidding for a Bowie knife--the original blade worn by Jim Bowie at the Alamo. Money isn't the problem: Kay's oilman client will pay whatever it takes to get the most famous blade in history since Excalibur. But one of the bidders wants the knife so badly that he's ready to kill for it.

The suspects are a colorful and varied lot, including that most predictable of current crime icons--the Russian mafia heavy posing as a top diplomat. His body is being guarded by a cold-hearted killer called Bud Wolf, a very nasty piece of work who has designs of his own on the precious knife. Also on the scene is Kay's ex-husband, a skilled con man who can smell profit and who threatens to add some logs to an already hot fire.

Will Kay prevail--or even survive? In the hands of a consummate master of the entertainment arts like Blankenship, you don't have to ask. The story line of The Time of the Wolf might be sheer fluff, but its only begetter treats it as seriously as if it were King Lear. --Dick Adler

From Kirkus Reviews

One priceless lot to be sold at a closed auction, six high-rolling bidders, one million nefarious dodges: a second adventure for antique dealer Kay Williams (The Time of the Cricket, 1995). The prize is a Bowie knife reputed to have belonged to Jim Bowie himself, taken from his body at the Alamo and preserved by the same Mexican family for over 150 years. New Orleans oilman Billy Boy Watkins, determined to make ``Old Bowie'' the prize of his knife collection, is paying Kay big bucks to act as his agent. But she's up against some stiff competition. Although Secret Service counterfeiting investigator Roy Scanner can't be counted a serious competitor, catty San Francisco antiquer Melanie Wadsworth, wealthy Long Island collector Arthur Ward, Japanese insurance mogul Kazuo Goto, and Leon Donin, from Moscow's Koska Museum, are all as determined as Billy Boy to own the fabled weapon. And some aren't very fussy about the tactics they - ll use to narrow the field of bidders. Donin's gone so far as to hire as his bodyguard Bud Wolf, a homegrown hit man, who has designs on the knife himself, and Kay's impecunious ex, Phil, has turned up in Austin with his thuggish Jamaican partner to grab whatever spare cash he can find lying around. All the bidders have different weaknesses - the counterfeiting subplot is especially well-turned - and except for Kay they're all willing to use sex or intimidation or violence or whatever else works to bully or trick each other into retiring from the fray. By introducing and killing off subsidiary characters, Blankenship manages, ingeniously and often miraculously, to bring his story to a boil while keeping all six bidders alive for the auction (though a shootout goes on a mite too long), but it wouldn't pay to sell any insurance once the bidding starts. Nimble variations on a predictable suspense formula. Few readers will be fooled by the wiles of the treacherous knife-hunters, but most will get their money's worth, which is more than you can say of the characters. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Dutton Adult
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 1556115482
• ISBN 13: 9781556115486
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 326