The Drifter Detective: Dinero Del Mar - Garnett Elliott

Jack Laramie, the Drifter Detective, is back in DINERO DEL MAR, which recounts three loosely connected cases that find Jack spending some time in my old stomping grounds, the Corpus Christi area. He's mixed up in an attempt to fix a beauty pageant, gets another case involving beatniks, bohemians, and artists when he's thrown into the drunk tank, and finally stumbles on a murder plot tied in with one of the previous cases. It all makes for a fast-moving, very entertaining yarn from author Garnett Elliott, who also supplies a surprising twist ending. Elliott does a great job with the setting, Texas in the 1950s, and this continues to be one of my favorite series. Highly recommended.