G.M. Ford's fifth book about Seattle private detective Leo Waterman begins with a backyard jolt: the Boys (a group of ancient alcoholics who Leo looks after) dig up the 30-year-old remains of a gay-bashing right-wing newspaper columnist named Peerless Price while doing some work on the grounds of the mansion belonging to Leo's late father, politician Wild Bill Waterman.

It looks very much as though Wild Bill did indeed shoot and bury his arch enemy. And precisely because both a starchy relative and the entire Seattle PD warn him against it, Leo proceeds to risk life, limb, and his ancient Fiat convertible to prove his father's innocence. What he finds out--from Wild Bill's old driver, an ex-cop called Bermuda Schwartz, and other assorted ghosts from the past--provides a wild and often touching story that combines recent headlines (about the smuggling of Chinese immigrants) with moments of personal pain. That same combination is present in Ford's other books about Waterman: Slow Burn, Who in Hell Is Wanda Fuca?, The Bum's Rush, and Cast in Stone. --Dick Adler


From Publishers Weekly
It's hard work trying to keep a series fresh, and in Ford's fifth novel about Seattle private detective Leo Waterman (Slow Burn, etc.) the strain shows. Most of the recurring jokes?about Leo's powerful family and their embarrassment about his work, about his dysfunctional Fiat and his animosity toward the police department?fall flat. Even the Boys, the band of homeless drunks Waterman supports and employs from time to time, aren't quite as engaging anymore. When the 30-year-old remains of a gay-bashing, right-wing newspaper columnist named Peerless Price turn up on the grounds of the mansion belonging to Leo's late father, politician Wild Bill Waterman, it begins to look as if Wild Bill had shot his arch enemy. Because both his starchy uncle Pat and the Seattle PD warn him against it, Leo risks life, limb and ancient convertible to prove his father's innocence. What he finds out?from Wild Bill's old driver and other ghosts from the past (including an earless Oriental phantom straight out of Sax Rohmer; see the review of The Revenge of Kali-Ra, below)?proves more bizarre than exciting. Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Seattle private investigator Leo Waterman (Slow Burn, LJ 2/1/98), a caring but in-your-face kind of guy, discovers a skeleton in his own backyard. Since he lives in a house inherited from his father, police and press assume the worst: Leo's politically powerful father murdered "Peerless" Price, a local muck-slinging reporter of some repute who disappeared in 1969. Leo sets out to prove otherwise, despite opposition but with the aid of his pathologist girlfriend and humorous homeless sidekicks. Good plot, unlikely adventure, and sharp-edged prose; strongly recommended.Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Kirkus Reviews
It looks like an insultingly routine task for the unemployed Irregulars who usually pull tail jobs for Leo Waterman: digging up the grounds around the 12-room palace the shamus inherited from his father, veteran Seattle politico Wild Bill Waterman. But when one of them uncovers the one-handed skeleton of Peerless Price, the red-baiting columnist who'd vanished 30 years ago in the middle of a well-publicized feud with Wild Bill over dueling Fourth of July parades, Leo's off and running on his most personal quest yet: to vindicate his old man in the face of the media firestorm Price's family is sure to kindle. The problem isn't that Price had no other enemies; the phone book is brimful of likely candidates. But each of Price's pet peeves in the days before he disappeared back in 1969a gay bar he was determined to get raided, the tide of illegal Asian immigrants he was convinced were linked the Red Menace, and of course the antiwar parade he was rabid to scuttleseem to lead straight back to Wild Bill, miring him still deeper in the legacy of Seattle's nastiest secrets. Besides, reasons Leo, how could anybody else possibly have buried Peerless's distinctive corpse in his old enemy's yard without the homeowner knowing something about it? Though Leo's flat-footing is flat, his fifth (Slow Burn, 1998, etc.) fills out the obligatory return-to-the-gumshoe's-roots entry with an appealing warmth and a couple of nifty surprises. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.



"Great fun."

FROM THE PUBLISHER

P.I. Leo Waterman is unflappable, irrepressible and unpredictable - a guy who, when facing adversity, would rather throw a punchline than a punch. As the son of one of Seattle's most colorful political figures, Leo knows the city like no one else. Barely operating within the bothersome confines of the law, Leo manages to bend the rules via a dash of urbane charm, backed-up by a mild threat of mutual blackmail. Recently, Leo has put aside the ghosts of his childhood to take up residence in his deceased parents' newly renovated mansion, which he now shares with his girlfriend, forensic specialist Rebecca Duvall. To clean up the neglected backyard, Leo calls upon his most trusted allies, "the Boys," a tenacious collective of hapless barflies whose pension checks arrive care of a low-rent ginmill. But as they tear down a dilapidated greenhouse, the motley wrecking crew uncovers a human skeleton that belongs to Leo's late father's most despised enemy: a muck-raking, ultra-conservative journalist who vanished twenty years ago. With the evidence stacked against "Wild Bill" Waterman, his son feels compelled to clear his name by digging up the past - and trying not to get buried beneath it.

SYNOPSIS

Seattle p.i. Leo Waterman knows the city like no one else. And he knows how to stretch the limits of the law, when necessary, to accomplish what needs to be done—a very useful talent Leo acquired from his late, larger-than-life father, once one of the region's most powerful and colorful political characters. But just how seriously Waterman senior transgressed during his time on Earth comes into question when one of "the Boys"—Leo's "residentially challenged" barfly allies—digs up a human skeleton in Dad's backyard.

The remains that remain belong to "Wild Bill" Waterman's staunchest foe—an ultra-conservative muckraking journalist who vanished mysteriously thirty years before. Leo has always struggled in his father's shadow—but he's convinced that his old man was much too savvy to have committed murder—let alone to have interred the victim in his own backyard. But in order to clear his father's damaged name, the dutiful son is going to have to start digging up a very dangerous past...and do his damnedest not to get buried beneath it.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

It's hard work trying to keep a series fresh, and in Ford's fifth novel about Seattle private detective Leo Waterman (Slow Burn, etc.) the strain shows. Most of the recurring jokes--about Leo's powerful family and their embarrassment about his work, about his dysfunctional Fiat and his animosity toward the police department--fall flat. Even the Boys, the band of homeless drunks Waterman supports and employs from time to time, aren't quite as engaging anymore. When the 30-year-old remains of a gay-bashing, right-wing newspaper columnist named Peerless Price turn up on the grounds of the mansion belonging to Leo's late father, politician Wild Bill Waterman, it begins to look as if Wild Bill had shot his arch enemy. Because both his starchy uncle Pat and the Seattle PD warn him against it, Leo risks life, limb and ancient convertible to prove his father's innocence. What he finds out--from Wild Bill's old driver and other ghosts from the past (including an earless Oriental phantom straight out of Sax Rohmer; see the review of The Revenge of Kali-Ra, below)--proves more bizarre than exciting. (Feb.)

Library Journal

Seattle private investigator Leo Waterman (Slow Burn, LJ 2/1/98), a caring but in-your-face kind of guy, discovers a skeleton in his own backyard. Since he lives in a house inherited from his father, police and press assume the worst: Leo's politically powerful father murdered "Peerless" Price, a local muck-slinging reporter of some repute who disappeared in 1969. Leo sets out to prove otherwise, despite opposition but with the aid of his pathologist girlfriend and humorous homeless sidekicks. Good plot, unlikely adventure, and sharp-edged prose; strongly recommended.

Kirkus Reviews

It looks like an insultingly routine task for the unemployed Irregulars who usually pull tail jobs for Leo Waterman: digging up the grounds around the 12-room palace the shamus inherited from his father, veteran Seattle politico Wild Bill Waterman. But when one of them uncovers the one-handed skeleton of Peerless Price, the red-baiting columnist who'd vanished 30 years ago in the middle of a well-publicized feud with Wild Bill over dueling Fourth of July parades, Leo's off and running on his most personal quest yet: to vindicate his old man in the face of the media firestorm Price's family is sure to kindle. The problem isn't that Price had no other enemies; the phone book is brimful of likely candidates. But each of Price's pet peeves in the days before he disappeared back in 1969-a gay bar he was determined to get raided, the tide of illegal Asian immigrants he was convinced were linked the Red Menace, and of course the antiwar parade he was rabid to scuttle-seem to lead straight back to Wild Bill, miring him still deeper in the legacy of Seattle's nastiest secrets. Besides, reasons Leo, how could anybody else possibly have buried Peerless's distinctive corpse in his old enemy's yard without the homeowner knowing something about it? Though Leo's flat-footing is flat, his fifth (Slow Burn, 1998, etc.) fills out the obligatory return-to-the-gumshoe's-roots entry with an appealing warmth and a couple of nifty surprises. .