Ruby Tuesday: An Eddie Dancer Mystery

Eddie Dancer Mystery #3

by Mike Harrison

Paul Menzies is an out-of-shape, middle-aged advertising executive, who arrives at work one morning to discover he’s lost his job. Downsized. That evening, he stops by a bank machine to check his finances. Ahead of him, a scruffy young couple is arguing about the state of their own finances. When the muscular husband, Victor Shriver, loses his temper and smacks his wife hard, Paul steps in and hauls the young thug backwards across the lobby. Which is the only clear image caught by the bank’s security camera. In the ensuing brawl, Shriver puts Paul in hospital for nearly a week. Despite the severity of his injuries, the cops have little choice but to lay charges against Paul for assault. Victor Shriver has found himself a sharp little lawyer, and between them they smell money, asking for $50,000. Instead Paul offers to fight Victor, mano a mano, in a boxing ring. Three rounds. If Shriver wins, Paul will pay him and the assault charges will be dropped. If Paul wins, no money changes hands and the assault charges will still be dropped. When she realizes there’s nothing she can do to dissuade her husband, Paul’s feisty wife, Valerie Menzies, hires Eddie Dancer to stop the fight. But it’s too little, too late and when the heat of the media spotlight focuses on the “mismatched fight of the year,” even Eddie realizes he’s beaten. As the world’s press and the TV networks pour into town for the main event, Eddie finds himself reliving some unresolved issues of spousal abuse from his own past. And once that lid is off, there’s no way Eddie can ever get it back on again.

272 pages, Hardcover

First published October 31, 2007

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Mike Harrison was born in the United Kingdom. He lives in Okotoks, Alberta where he works as a real estate agent. His mystery novels feature private investigator Eddie Dancer. He has worked in advertising for much of his life and has an eclectic mix of interests that include motorcycling, hiking, cooking, and hypnosis. He lives in Okotoks, Alberta, with his wife and two cats.

Series:
* Eddie Dancer Mystery

Reviews

[Jillian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a book I would usually go for but it is based in the province I'm from and was a good price so I went for it.
Good little easy read with actually a half decent story.

[Dennis P Moore · Rating 2 out of 5]

5.

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS.

Travails of Eddie Dancer, a private investigator in contemporary Western Canada.

What first presents as a small, but needed paycheck for a relatively simple case -- a wife concerned about her husband taking a dangerous dare -- turns into a more serious situation involving a crime that occurred decades ago, but explains some of the characters' present-day behavior.

A mystery with tragedy and comedy.

P.I. Eddie Dancer sees humor and humanity in his at-times gritty, sweaty work. Unlike Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe, Dancer has an overt sex life.

Dancer's got attitude. Harrison's got punchy writing.