Review: A Different Type of Mystery
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 09 17, 2013
Jack Reno, the protagonist of Martin Nalitz's novel, is a new type of "detective," one who's uniquely suited for the big-money Wall Street era. Reno is a former investment adviser who was convicted of various white collar crimes and is now on parole, working for a paralegal for the attorney who, as a district attorney a few years earlier, got him convicted. The mystery, such as it is, in this book, centers on financial funny business as Reno winds up looking into some shady mortgage transactions to see where any fraud took place to try to keep the firm's client, a beautiful executive at the mortgage company, out of trouble.There's no murder, almost no violence, and, truth be told, not much of a mystery. What there is in the book is a good bit of commentary on the law and morality involved in high finance, and a good look at some of the schemes that are used in these high stakes con games. Reno's no saint, but almost every other character is far more tarnished than him, but, nonetheless, pillars of society. It's an entertaining read by an author who knows his stuff and knows how to spin off a lively digression or three (Nalitz himself is apparently a convicted white collar criminal).