Book excerpt: From the author of the Mike Shayne Mysteries: A man’s obsessive affair with his wife’s teenage sister takes him down a dark and dangerous path. A quiet construction engineer in Denver, Colorado, Charlie Dell doesn’t need any complications in his life. But his wife, Irma, insists they take in her younger sister, Lois, as a matter of duty. Charlie bristles at the thought of having a seventeen-year-old girl around . . . until he gets one look at Lois. She’s a far cry from the buck-toothed kid Dell remembers, and more than willing to indulge in a little sin with her sister’s husband. Insane with passion, Dell starts cutting corners at work in order to find time alone with her. But actions have consequences—deadly, serious ones—and the further Dell goes to cover his tracks, the darker and more dangerous his path gets. “This is a taut, matter-of-fact novel—simply and powerfully written.” —The Nashville Tennessean Praise for Brett Halliday’s Mike Shayne Mysteries “[Mike Shayne is] one of the best of the tough sleuths.” —The New York Times “Unlike anything else in the genre.” —L. J. Washburn, author of For Whom the Funeral Bell Tolls “Raw, ingenious storytelling . . . Pure pleasure.” —Shane Black, creator of Lethal Weapon and writer/director of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, on Murder Is My Business