An interesting story. It contains a lot of unpleasant characters - from the bombastic sheriff, to the womanizing author, to the hero who appears to be a sort of playboy PI (he runs a bookshop, mostly for the fun of it, apparently) - which usually turns me off. However, most of the characters managed to transcend their stereotypes and be interesting people as well (not all, but most). The mystery itself was rather neat, though some of the side effects (like poor Dan) were seriously nasty. And the nastiest piece of work was the victim, which is satisfying. It ends with a funny and beautifully fitting bit, where another nasty gets his comeuppance, and in general is nicely rounded off. I'm glad I read it, which is unusual for this type of story, and I think I'll keep an eye out for more by this author. Not wonderful, and I doubt I'll want to reread, but enjoyable for a read-once. This is, by the way, clearly in the middle of a series - I usually read from the beginning of series, but it seems not particularly necessary here. ( )