Slow Burn - Hardcover

G. M. Ford

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0380975564 ISBN 13: 9780380975563

Publisher: William Morrow, 1998

Synopsis

When Leo Goldman is hired to keep an eye on two steakhouse competitors during a restaurant convention, he assembles his surveillance team of derelicts, but something goes wrong, and Leo finds himself accused of murder and fearing for both his career and life.

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Reviews

In his fourth outing, Seattle PI Leo Waterman (The Bum's Rush, 1997) is hired to save Bunky, a $360,000 prize Angus steer facing death and barbecue by a desperate steak house owner. Jack Del Fuego hopes to generate publicity for his bankrupt eateries by serving Bunky at his Seattle grand opening. Sir Geoffrey Miles, an overfed authority on food, hires Leo to head off Del Fuego's plan, which threatens to spoil an international gourmet society meeting in Seattle. When Mason Reese (no, not that Mason Reese), a tawdry food critic whose approval Del Fuego needs, is found murdered, the cops think Leo did it, so he must catch the real killer to clear himself. Atop his suspect list are a rival steak restaurateur, Del Fuego's avaricious ex-wife and suites full of greedy hangers-on. For assistance, Leo once again recruits "The Boys," the cadre of aging drunks who stand?or slouch?at the ready to help him with his offbeat cases. Ford pushes credibility by deploying The Boys to snoop around Seattle's finest hotel, but, placed next to the snooty, vengeful rich on the premises, Leo's boozy geezers seem downright genteel. A thoroughly wacky climax in the center of the city involving helicopters, a bull on a pallet, a mammoth barbecue pit and thermodynamics seems just right for Ford's latest, a hugely entertaining, over-the-top caper. Author tour. (Mar.) FYI: In simultaneous publication, Avon will issue the paperback edition of Bum's Rush. Ford's previous Leo Waterman novels were published in hardcover by Walker.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Seattle shamus Leo Waterman is summoned to unaccustomed heights--the very special 16th floor of the Olympic Star Hotel-- to hear Sir Geoffrey Miles, the Guru of Gourmands, tell him that the well-heeled and tasteful don't behave any better than the homeless Irregulars Leo employs as operatives. The annual convention of Le Cuisine International, with Sir Geoffrey as keynoter, is being held hostage to a dispute between Del Fuego's FeedLot and Abby's Angus about which of them really deserves the coveted top rating of Mason Reese's Golden Fork Club. Jack Del Fuego has heated up his rivalry with steakhouse competitor Abigail Meyerson by underhandedly purchasing Bunky, the state-of-the-art steer bred by Abigail's daughter Brie, with the intention now of barbecuing Bunky in downtown Seattle. Distraught Sir Geoffrey wants to hire Leo to find the steer, dead or alive, and keep bad publicity from Sir Geoffrey's doorstep; Mason Reese, holed up in his hotel room, is afraid (with reason) that if he opens his door he'll be killed; and the extensive entourages of the archrivals are bickering because that's what they're comfortable with. Nero Wolfe fans will recognize the basic plot of Some Buried Caesar, supplemented with bits from Too Many Cooks and a host of other sly in-jokes, though the climax of Ford's unexpectedly lighthearted fourth case (The Bum's Rush, 1997, etc.) depends on one borrowing too many. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Hired as a security liaison for an international food conference by an eminent food critic, Seattle's Leo Waterman, private investigator, steps into the middle of a food feud between two rival American steak-house chains. Leo taps family connections in city government for information, dolls up some of his usual group of homeless alcoholics to infiltrate a fancy hotel, and even breaks a thumb or two but fails to prevent the murder of his pontificating client. Ford (Cast in Stone, LJ 4/1/96) conveys the larger-than-life suspects, rag-tag operatives, and exaggerated situations with delightful finesse. For most collections.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Seattle private eye Leo Waterman and his "operatives," who might less charitably be described as a band of drunken sots, are hired to keep a lid on a potentially explosive situation at the highfalutin international culinary convention being held at the city's poshest hotel. The owners of rival steak-house chains are in attendance, and one plans to barbeque the 4-H project of the other's daughter in a public display that has animal-rights activists in a frenzy. Waterman's job gets more complicated when a food critic who could ruin either of the steak-house owners turns up murdered. It can't, alas, be said that Waterman succeeds in his original mission, as all hell breaks out at the convention. But Ford certainly succeeds in entertaining readers who appreciate memorable characters, witty dialogue, and outrageous situations. The author's fourth Leo Waterman mystery, like his previous three, is a kick in the pants. Dennis Dodge

Edition details

• Publisher: William Morrow
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0380975564
• ISBN 13: 9780380975563
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 281