The Capo’s Mistress by Richard Harris is Harris’s first novel. It is a mystery/thriller featuring Mike Driscoll, and ex-cop with a few flaws. The first is that he is a recovering alcoholic. The second, he is a push over for beautiful women. Enter Mary Carter. Mary is beautiful and hard to resist. Of course, Mike falls for her right away and soon he is going to Las Vegas to help her recover a bag she threw in the lagoon at Treasure Island as she was running out of town in pursuit by the police and the mob.
It seems that Mary had been working in Las Vegas as a blackjack dealer. She explains to Mike that she was in the Casino when a robbery took place – an inside job. As the robbers were trying to leave -
One of the robbers ran right by me and he had already been shot and was covered with blood and I think he knew he was going to die because he looked at me and said, clear as day, ‘Have fun, blondie,’ and dropped the bag he was carrying right at my feet and kept on running. I knew it was full of money and I don’t know why I did it but I kicked it under the table and threw my coat on top of it. The casino was going crazy and everyone was running for the doors, even the pit bosses, and I thought the bosses looking down from above us were probably freaked out too, so I picked up the bag with my coat over it and ran for the door. When I got outside I didn’t know what to do with the bag and then I saw the Treasure Island lagoon and I ran over to it. Everyone had left the lagoon to see what the excitement was all about so I counted down three vertical railings from the end closest to the pirate ship and I threw the bag in and it sank like a rock.
The books is intriguing and suspenseful and is sure to be a real page-turner! Parts of the novel can be read on Harris’ website so that you can get a feel for his writing before you buy. He is also offering audio MP3 chapter downloads until April 27, 2007. You can pre-order The Capo’s Mistress at Amazon.