Dutch Uncle

Despite his determination to stay straight, ex-con Harry Healy is desperate for money and agrees to make one simple delivery for drug dealer Manfred Pfiser, only to find himself caught in the middle of a deadly robbery scheme involving a former cellmate, an aging high-school baseball star, a murderous sociopath, and a beautiful beach bunny. Original.

This crime chuckler wears its Elmore Leonard influence on its cover: "Dutch" is Leonard's nickname. The Dutch uncle in the book is an actual Dutchman whose cocaine and untimely demise set a small swarm of crooks and cops in motion. Harry Healy is the sort-of hero, a likable, small-time criminal, just out of jail, who has a hard time making good decisions. But he's just one player in a memorably quirky cast that includes a dim ex-jock snorting his way through his inheritance; a ditzy babe whose constant nakedness is annoying everyone; a short, chunky detective who struggles with his sensitivity training; and the braces-wearing Latina colleague he might just be made for. Pavia, coauthor of The Other Hollywood [BKL F 1 05], an "oral history" of the porn industry, redraws the hard-boiled boundaries of the Hard Case Crime line a bit to include this offbeat diversion in the style of Leonard, Carl Hiaasen, and Charles Willeford's Hoke Moseley books. He's not quite as good as those guys, but he's pretty close. Keir Graff
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