Show Me The...Murder Weapon?

The devil is in the details. No really!

When Harlan Coben first introduced Myron Bolitar to the world, there was an immediate uproar - not since "Jerry Maguire" had a sports agent captured the reading public's imagination so powerfully and immediately. And as Myron's outings became more and more frequent, it became obvious that this quick-witted, loose-limbed sports-agent-turned-crimefighting-vigilante was here to stay - each subsequent novel added a further layer to Myron's character, and Coben's latest, "The Final Detail", is the most revealing yet, packing into its 200-plus pages both an exciting mystery and some tantalizing insights into Myron's past.

"The Final Detail" begins with Myron being recalled from his Caribbean hideaway with the news that his former assistant and current partner Esperanza, the lady wrestler known in her heyday as Pocahontas, had been arrested on charges of murdering one of Myron's clients, a baseball player named Clu Haid. The situation is further complicated by the fact that Esperanza refuses to speak to Myron, or explain how it is that the murder weapon was found in the office they share. As Myron embarks on an investigation with his friend Win, it becomes more and more obvious that what is at stake is more than just a simple murder - the roots of the crime stretch back into the past, to an error of judgement Myron made when he was just starting out, and to the disappearance of a young girl belonging to a wealthy local family.

Of course, this isn't Myron's only problem - he also has to contend with the slimy Frank Ache, head of a rival sports agency; his intermittent relationship problems; and a psychotic cross-dresser named Zorra. As always, he's backed up by the ruthless and utterly charming Windsor Horne Lockwood III, easily the most charming psycho in recent crime fiction, and a Teutonic female wrestler named Big Cyndi. One of Coben's better efforts!

This article was first published on11 Apr 2000.