Political science professor Everson ( Suicide Squeeze ) brings his knowledge of arcane history to the forefront in this mystery for conspiracy buffs, but he shoots his story in the foot with self-indulgent humor. Fast-food-loving punster PI Bobby Miles admits to being an "undereducated plodder" who is out of his league trying to comprehend the "nouveau politics" of Springfield, Ill. His partner, Mitch Norris, a cigar-smoking opera buff who reads Umberto Eco, is more appealing but too little in evidence, while other characters (for example, Miles's wife, a Faulkner specialist) seem extraneous. The Abraham Lincoln Legal Association hires the partners to check out a man who claims to possess documents incriminating Honest Abe in a plot to kill Mormon leader Joseph Smith. A whistling whittler, an alcoholic, a womanizing ex-politician, a former FBI agent and other unsavory types cross Miles and Norris's path as they traverse western Illinois, encountering several dead bodies along the way. Little in this slight narrative justifies even the brief time it takes to read a book written primarily in words of one or two syllables.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
Bobby Miles, low-tech Springfield, Illinois, p.i. (Suicide Squeeze)--again on assignment for the Speaker of the State House, ``Tree'' Courtney--here takes after one Joseph X. Smith, whose letters in the files of the late congressman Virgil T. Fiske claim that he's in possession of a 19th-century diary that proves Lincoln was involved in the assassination of Mormon leader Joseph Smith. Does the diary exist? Is it legit? Bobby, his bulky, cigar-smoking sidekick Mitch, and Mitch's history-professor friend Rachel are soon surrounded by vengeful Mormons, dead bodies, and thugs making drug drops in ice-cream trucks. They're also almost overwhelmed by lies told by Fiske's former law partner--the ex-husband of the elusive Joseph X. Smith's sister--and a high-tech p.i. who'd been on Fiske's payroll. Eventually, Smith surfaces, as does a plan to cadge big bucks from the Abraham Lincoln Legal Association. But Bobby, Mitch, and Rachel, sorting through musty documents, Mormon history, and certain current business relationships, protect Lincoln's reputation and finger various scoundrels. Lumpen prose but an interesting premise--Lincoln's culpability--and although the Church of the Latter-day Saints has been rendered better (the Moroni Traveller series), this is a step up from Everson's last outing. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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