Red Means Run

October 17, 2011
Smith (Busted Flush) eschews pyrotechnics in favor of character in this assured crime novel, the first in a new series set in upstate New York. When defense attorney Mickey Dupree is found in a sand trap at the Burr Oak Golf and Country Club, the shaft of a broken five iron driven through his heart, suspicion falls on small-time rancher Virgil Cain, who 10 days earlier, in a local bar, threatened to blow off Mickey’s head. Virgil was unhappy that Mickey had gotten crazy record producer Alan Comstock off for killing Virgil’s wife. Homicide cop Claire Marchand is willing to give Virgil the benefit of the doubt, even after someone shoots Alan dead the day after Virgil escapes from police custody. Smith develops the romance between fugitive and lawwoman as smoothly as he drops in clues to the mystery. Intriguing background players, such as vet Mary Nelson, who shelters neglected horses, add depth.

December 1, 2011
A farmer accused of murder turns detective to save his skin, which is worth saving. Woodstock lawyer Mickey Dupree's streak of capital murder acquittals without a single loss has been stopped at eight by the five-iron driven through his chest. Joe Brady, of the Kingston PD, is certain that he doesn't have to look any further than Virgil Cain, the farmer who recently told Mickey—who secured an acquittal for record producer Alan Comstock, accused of killing Virgil's wife Kirstie—that somebody ought to kill him. But Claire Marchand, an investigator for the Ulster County DA's Office, isn't so sure. She's impressed by Virgil's steadfast denials of guilt and even more impressed by his gravitas and his refusal to lose his cool under Brady's taunting. Even after Virgil escapes from police custody during his transfer to another prison, Claire doubts that he's the killer. While Brady is certain that Virgil's hightailed it back to his native Canada, she realizes that he's stayed much closer to home, determined to clear his name by finding the real killer. Both the time and the place are wrong for Virgil's plan, though, since someone takes advantage of his being on the loose to kill Comstock, whom he has an even stronger motive for murdering, and another of Mickey's clients, horse-abuser Miller Boddington, whom Virgil must have some reason for killing. The whodunit is both unguessable and not very interesting, but Smith (Busted Flush, 2005, etc.) makes the developing relationship between mutually wary Virgil and Claire well worth the price of admission.

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December 1, 2011

Plenty of people had it in for sleazy criminal attorney Mickey Dupree, but who would go so far as to kill him with a golf club? Local widower farmer Virgil Cain becomes the fall guy primarily because Virgil believed his murdered wife was a victim of Dupree's acquitted client. When Virgil escapes custody and more bodies pile up, an action-packed whodunit gathers steam and mesmerizes. Detective Claire Marchand is intrigued by the fugitive's actions, and she's not above making some rogue moves herself. Our hero is way too smart to be framed--this guy evades the law, figures out the murders, and gains some happiness to boot. VERDICT Set in upstate New York, this twisty mystery offers a dash of country noir and plenty of suspects. Smith's (Busted Flush) assured series debut bodes well for future Virgil Cain mysteries with a mystique recalling The Fugitive and an enigmatic hero coupled with a maverick cop.

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from December 1, 2011
A new Brad Smith novel guarantees readers several things: a self-reliant, wryly humorous hero, who gets into a jam and decides to get himself out of it; a slick but not too slick plot; and a narrative that mixes comedy and caper in just the right proportions. All that, and sometimes you get horses, too. This time, it's a full house. Ex-con Virgil Cain is running a horse farm in upstate New York, trying to live quietly, when somebody sticks the the shaft of a five-iron through the heart of a slimy lawyer, who was playing a solo nine holes at the local country club. Earlier, after the lawyer had managed to get an acquittal for the punk who killed Virgil's wife, Virgil was heard to proclaim to a crowded bar that he wouldn't mind seeing the lawyer's head blown off. That's enough for a dim-witted detective to arrest Virgil, who, without an alibi, jumps at an opportunity to escape and sets out to prove his innocence, eventually acquiring the reluctant help of a far-from-dim-witted (and quite comely) police detective. Smith keeps the narrative cantering along at a comfortable pace, not so fast as to keep us from enjoying the banter but not so slow as to make us want to use the whip. Best of all, he offers up a hero who acts just the way we'd like to act if we ever escaped from jail and had to solve a murder.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)