Stanley Hastings is just a guy who can't say "no." When Sgt. William MacAuliff of the NYPD asks a favor, Stanley's obliging nature catapults him into a web of intrigue that is pure entertainment for the reader. In Hall's third novel (after Murder ) featuring the reluctant amateur sleuth, Stanley's job as drone for an ambulance-chasing attorney becomes secondary to the favor he must perform. So he heads to Atlantic City to investigate the peccadillos of MacAuliff's sleazy son-in-law, Harold Dunleavy. Using a hilarious, albeit unbelievable, modus operandi, Stanley becomes entangled with the mob, a blackmail scheme and two murders. Not surprisingly, he is the prime suspect in both murders and must somehow manage to clear his name while protecting MacAuliff's interests.
