Low Rider

Bound in the publisher's original cloth covered boards. Signed by the author on the title page.

Philip Reed doesn't waste any time getting down to business in his second book about a slightly bent but basically good-hearted Los Angeles car dealer named Harold Dodge. On page one, right after a bunch of gangbangers on the 405 freeway give thumbs-up approval to his lime green '64 Chevy Impala SS with 300-horsepower engine, Harold begins to muse: "He had lived here his whole life until he was forced to leave the country last year because of a couple of murders he didn't commit. Now, he was back to straighten things out. Repair the damage he had done to Vikki's life, and his own, and--who knows?--make some nice money in the process." As readers of Reed's Edgar-nominated debut novel, Bird Dog, know, Vikki is the widow of Dodge's former employer, a man killed because of a crooked car deal by the woman who became Harold's lover. Reed's second outing is as complicated, colorful, and full of great cars as his first--and judging by the tire tracks left at the end, there's a good chance that Mark III will soon be in your showrooms. --Dick Adler