Flashpoint

by Ed Gorman

Overview

When his client becomes the prime suspect in a murder case, political consultant Dev Conrad’s campaign is thrown into chaos.
 
Political Consultant Devlin Conrad had the feeling that his very married client Senator Robert Logan was a lot more involved with the beautiful and mysterious Tracy Cabot than he wanted to admit. But he learned too late that the Cabot woman was a spy working for a shadowy right-wing organization – too late because by then she'd been found murdered in Senator Logan’s fishing cabin, and the police are certain that he killed her. But Conrad finds numerous suspects in the Senator's mansion and in the somewhat comic but dangerous figure of political saboteur Howie Ruskin. He must find the real killer if he is to win the election for a client whose vanity and arrogance make him right at home in the United States Senate. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780727896711
Publisher:	Severn House Publishers
Publication date:	03/31/2014
Series:	A Dev Conrad Political Thriller , #4
Edition description:	First World Large Print
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Ed Gorman has won the Shamus, Anthony, Ellery Queen, Spur, and International Fiction Awards. He has been shortlisted for an Edgar Award twice, and once for the Silver Dagger. His other work includes the Sam McCain series and the Jack Dwyer series.

Editorial Reviews

The Dev Conrad mysteries showcase Gorman’s gifts for creating realistic characters and plotting suspenseful stories

Booklist

The Dev Conrad mysteries showcase Gorman’s gifts for creating realistic characters and plotting suspenseful stories.”
Booklist on Flashpoint

“Short chapters, biting prose, and a clever twist keep this political thriller moving at a breakneck pace. Political junkies will appreciate the fourth entry.”
Library Journal on Flashpoint

From the Publisher

The Dev Conrad mysteries showcase Gorman’s gifts for creating realistic characters and plotting suspenseful stories

Booklist

2013-08-15
Skullduggery-cum-homicide threatens yet another of Chicago political consultant Dev Conrad's clients. Robert Logan may be the incumbent senator from Illinois, but his eye for the ladies makes him vulnerable to all sorts of family-values innuendo and worse. The loyalties of his wife, Elise, and his coed daughter Maddy, already tested by a fling he had years ago, are stretched to the limit by his fascination with Tracy Cabot, the mysterious glamourpuss who turns up at one campaign event after another. Tracy obviously represents some sort of trap for the candidate, but her true potential for sowing havoc isn't realized until she turns up beaten to death in Logan's fishing cabin in rural Linton. The campaign immediately goes into entertaining overdrive to protect the candidate from the heaviest mudslinging. Dev gets hotshot attorney Ben Zuckerman to fly into Linton, bribes hotel bellman Earl Leonard to let him turn over Tracy's hotel room, and churns the waters looking for material to use in a counterattack against Logan's opponent, folksy insurance-exec millionaire Charlie Shay. The candidate goes on TV to offer condolences to Tracy's family and blandly assure the voters that he had nothing to do with her death. In short, it's all business as usual. Even Dev's contact with Howie Ruskin, the political saboteur with whom Tracy was working to bring down Logan, seems familiar as well, at least until Ruskin gets shot. Even so, it's hard getting worked up over rumors of a conspiracy against Logan when so many of the cast members are conspiracy theorists and when it's pretty obvious that at least some of them are onto something. A lesser installment in the colorful career of Dev (Blindside, 2012, etc.), who sounds perfectly sincere when he maintains that "[p]olitical consultants pray every waking moment."

Kirkus Reviews