This, the second “Jeep Mullane Novel” carries on with the exploits of the everyman’s detective living on the socially divided enclave of Long Island, New York. Jeep is a second-generation cop and a town chief of police with a keen sense of justice which includes sometimes looking the other way in the interests of moral fairness. He is, as are many local law enforcement officials, often at odds with the federal authorities who inject themselves into town affairs to the detriment of both Jeep’s investigations and the efficient solution of pending crimes. He finds ways around that and the officious directives mandated by a pompous public servant who is part of a truly bizarre tri-borough arrangement that puts Jeep under the thumbs of three separate small-town mayors.

This time he is contacted by an old flame who has been attacked in her home and beaten badly. She doesn’t wish to involve the police formally, so she calls her old lover and asks him to find a path to safety. She’s been blackmailed by an entity threatening to reveal the truth behind a teenage auto accident which resulted in her losing one eye and in which she may have been at fault, a fact covered up by her eventual husband and a cooperative police department. A twisted plot emerges involving a small-time biker gang, drug smuggling and high school romantic entanglements.

A thoroughly enjoyable ride through present day crime illuminated by looks back into happenings in the previous decades reads easily and quickly due to the smooth narrative style and appealing characters. One of the features of novels that engages readers is a sympathetic relationship with the principal players that Wade manages with skill and aplomb. Readers of the author’s first book “Johnny Careless” will be pleased with the consistent quality and tone of this new entry in what it is to be hoped will be a series.