The wrong case

The send-off is from Lew Archer and there are times when Crumley's a live ringer for Ross MacDonald, in tone certainly, all ""scabs and scars"" leaded with bitterness. Milodragovitch, Milo for short, a former divorce ease transom-peeper, now out of funds even though there's always a chit for that next drink, tries to find the brother of a young woman who denies he'd been part of the fruit and drug scene from which he'd disappeared. Crumley tells a very brutal story (there will be ten casualties) of less genealogical complexity than his forebear--only the last twist of bitter lemon at the close. But it works--mostly because of Milo, the most hombre duro in some time. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.