Walter Mosley - When the Thrill Is Gone

Leonid McGill is back, in the third-and most enthralling and ambitious-installment in Walter Mosleys latest New York Times- bestselling series. The economy has hit the private-investigator business hard, even for the detective designated as a more than worthy successor to Philip Marlowe (The Boston Globe) and the perfect heir to Easy Rawlins (Toronto Globe and Mail). Lately, Leonid McGill is getting job offers only from the criminals hes worked so hard to leave behind. Meanwhile, his life grows ever more complicated: his favorite stepson, Twill, drops out of school for mysteriously lucrative pursuits; his best friend, Gordo, is diagnosed with cancer and is living on Leonids couch; his wife takes a new lover, infuriating the old one and endangering the McGill family; and Leonids girlfriend, Aura, is back but intent on some serious conversations... So how can he say no to the beautiful young woman who walks into his office with a stack of cash? Shes an artist, she tells him, whos escaped from poverty via marriage to a rich collector who keeps her on a stipend. But she says she fears for her life, and needs Leonids help. Though Leonid knows better than to believe every word, this isnt a job he can afford to turn away, even as he senses that-if his familys misadventures dont kill him first-sorting out the womans crooked tale will bring him straight to deaths door.