All I Have is Blue

In the sequel to Skinny Man, Ruth and Skinny save an eleven-year-old boy from drowning after the boat he is on explodes, but find themselves pursued by unsavory characters when the little boy disappears.

The New Orleans cop who calls himself Skinny (introduced in Skinny Man ), his partner Mike Theriot and his girlfriend Ruth find themselves involved with the Drug Enforcement Agency and the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms after Skinny and Ruth see a boat sinking on the Mississippi River. Skinny rescues 10-year-old Dwayne but can't save his father, the captain of the ship. Because the boat exploded, ATF agent Gratzke questions them, then releases Dwayne into Skinny and Ruth's care. They take him to his aunt's house, but she is killed and Dwayne runs away. Skinny is next contacted by a DEA agent who suspects the boat of drug running. Dwayne, the sole witness, is anxiously sought by many, including an ex-con hood who owns a string of nightclubs. Skinny and Ruth set out to find and protect Dwayne when they realize that the boy is being hunted not just for information but also by someone who wants him silenced. Thoughtful, quirky Skinny and down-to-earth Ruth make this somewhat convoluted story enjoyable and exciting.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Skinny, the New Orleans cop who always refers to himself in the third person (``Skinny's not sure''), is looking out over the Mississippi with Ruth, the lover/sidekick he took on in Skinny Man (1991), when a boat explodes before their eyes. Skinny rescues young Dwayne Charles from the sinking boat, but it's not much of a rescue: five minutes after he's returned Dwayne to his aunt Agnes, Agnes is shot dead and the boy's vanished. As Skinny dodges the cross-fire between unsavory government agency types competing hard to make a pinch (the DEA has had their man waiting inside a drug ring run by fearsome Ishanti for 11 years), the scared Dwayne, still on the run, gets hold of a piece and goes after the folks he thinks blew up his dad, putting Skinny on the spot for attempted murder. Skinny's mannered, offspeed delivery pulls you in to refreshingly original complications that don't quite pay off in the end. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Colbert ( Skinny Man , LJ 2/1/91) sports another winner with this procedural. New Orleans policeman Skinny rescues a small black boy from a boat explosion, but the boy, a party to his dead father's illegal activities, disappears in a world of government agents, ex-convicts, murderers, and gun-runners. The author centers his complicated but not unruly plot on the levees and barrues, shanties and tumbledown nightclubs of the Mississippi, as everyone tries to locate the boy. Uncluttered prose, insinuating suspense, and special focus on Skinny and woman friend Ruth create a powerful draw.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.