Lefty Wright breaks into J. Andrew Chancellor’s empty house as easy as pie, and he has no idea why he is being paid so handsomely to do so. After stumbling over the corpse of the prominent criminal court judge, he realizes too late that he’s been set up.

Murder was not part of the deal, and Lefty sends out an appeal to Jake Diamond, Private Investigator, to help him prove his innocence. Diamond, who made his first appearance in J. L. Abramo’s previous novel, Catching Water in a Net, hasn’t changed much. He still owns exactly two neckties, both stained; still employs secretary Darlene Roman, who does almost everything for him except tie his shoes; and still cannot fall asleep unless reading one of the classics. But his faultless instincts remain as sharp as ever and lead him through a maze of paths to untangle the intertwined mysteries of a faked kidnapping, a twenty-year-old assault case, a police chief’s suicide, and a missing Rolex watch.

In 2001, Abramo, who lives in Columbia, won the St. Martin’s Press PWA Award for the year’s best first private eye novel. In Clutching at Straws, his knack for intelligent dialogue and intricate plotting continues unabated.