Dead Money

"Chandleresque…. All of McCrea's characters are distinctive and the solution to the murder mystery is a surprise. The dialogue between Rick and Dorita snaps back and forth faster than a Ping-Pong ball. Dead Money is the first in a series, and McCrea has set the hook well."
–Quill & Quire

“Grant McCrea can really write. Dead Money is a high-octane mystery that has all the right ingredients. It kept me up well into the night.”
–James Swain, author of Mr. Lucky

“There are many things to praise about this debut novel…. The dialogue snaps and the characters click.”
–The Globe and Mail

“[The character of] Redman, for all his flaws, has a soul that he has not sold to anybody. Maybe that is what makes him fascinating in his own flawed way.”
–Edmonton Journal

From the Trade Paperback edition.

With dialogue reminiscent of Dashiell Hammett and Elmore Leonard’s works, a ripping pace and a cast of characters you won’t soon forget, Dead Money is a first-rate mystery like no other.

When Rick Redman’s infuriating boss puts him on the Jules Fitzgibbon case, Rick suspects he’s being set up to lose. After all, the murder victim was found dead in a nearby alleyway after a very vocal argument with the accused, a young man with an unhealthy fondness for sharp implements. But Jules’s father is an important client of the firm, and Rick is told to keep the young man out of jail. Could it be, though, that Jules’s father also wants Rick to fail? Rick turns to the one person he knows he can trust – in life and on the case – Dorita, a leggy dame with a platinum cigarette lighter and a wit as sharp as her stilettos.

Meanwhile, at home, Rick’s wife is slowly killing herself with drink, and their spirited teenaged daughter, Kelly, is forced to watch helplessly. Rick seeks consolation at his local watering hole, The Wolf’s Lair, where he meets a young and charming actor, Jake, who asks him to join a high-stakes poker game. But like everything else in Rick’s complicated life, there’s more to Jake than meets the eye.

Dead Money is the first in a series featuring Rick Redman: lawyer, drinker, rookie investigator, father, poker hound.

From the Hardcover edition.