Aim for the Heart

Chris Klick #2

by Wendell McCall

Guns and greed lead to grief ... Chris Klick, a guy who traces missing musicians to give himself a trace of the good life, has kicked back to relax over a bird-watching, fly-fishing Idaho summer. Klick's buddy Lyel, a former pro basketball player, could get by clipping coupons. But he's a sucker for a story, and Klick's a sucker for a woman in distress. Together they succumb to Candy McGreggor and agree to find her missing sister, Roberta.Roberta, an employee at the Butte Peak County Courthouse, seems to have triggered a string of disasters that began with a recent plane wreck and a dead pilot. Has she she just been unlucky, or has she been a player in some deadly game? And, it must be asked, has she gone off voluntarily, is she outrunning her creditors, or has she been abducted? If so, what's the payoff going to be?Aim for the Heart is the second Chris Klick detection, following Dead Aim (1988, reprinted by Poisoned Pen Press). Klick and Lyel move to undercover work at Oxford University in Concerto in Dead Flat (Poisoned Pen Press, 1999).

Genres: Mystery

224 pages, Library Binding

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

A pen name of Ridley Pearson.

Reviews

[John Calia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This little thriller, told in first person, is a non-stop action mystery. The good guys are empathetic despite their flaws. The bad guys are really bad. And the solution to the mystery doesn’t reveal itself until the very end.

The writing style is matter of fact with occasional rhetorical flourishes and strong metaphors. But what makes the book entertaining is its pace. There are no side shows, and no distractions. The story is told, the reader is drawn in, and it’s all very satisfying.

If you like fast-paced action thrillers, this is the book for you.

[T · Rating 3 out of 5]

Second in an old series by Ridley Pearson writing as Wendell McCall, and a short one at that.

Chris Klick, hunter of musicians of the past in order to get their due royalties to them, works on a couple cases in between installing a sprinkler system in his friend Lyel's property, while mourning the lady who left him when her case was resolved.

There's the beautiful woman who wants to hire Klick to help land a large warehouse in California as a manufacturing site.

And then there's the local gal, a tad country, who wants to hire Klick to help find her missing sister, though she really can't afford to pay him for the work.

Along the way, there's a plane crash where it appears the pilot attempted to eject from the burning plane and skewered himself and set fire to a vet clinic and a few other things.

There's blood, broken bones, mayhem, guns.....the usual!

[John Arden · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did not expect to like this as much as I did. This is, overall, well written, with a believable plot, and a crime which makes sense. I liked Chris, the protagonist, as well. I'll be keeping an eye out for other books by this author.

[Trisha Doucet · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was on my mother's bookshelf when I was a kid. I really enjoyed and it took it with me when I moved out. I recently reread this book and enjoyed it again. A little predictable, after reading it as an adult. But, enjoyable, nonetheless.

[Fred]

2002

[Fred]

1999