Jay Morgan is the visiting poetry professor who has problems of his own. Not only did Jay sleep with one of his students, Annie, but she wakes up dead in Jay’s bed one morning. Panicking, Jay gets rid of her body, but not the witness and now finds himself involved with student reporter Ginny, hoping to keep her quiet.

Add to the mix a mysterious, generous benefactor who writes poetry, a naked, bong-toking professor who is supposed to be on sabbatical, but who is hiding out in the upper floor of the aptly named Albatross Hall, a shady detective looking for Annie and a whole lot of coke, a drug dealer and drug lords from the city looking for Jenks and you end up with a lot of murders and a lot of misunderstandings that give a madcap feel to this entire situation.

Despite the fact that Jay holds a certain amount of responsibility for several of the deaths and events precipitated by not reporting these deaths, he is still a very likable character who never gets a break. In the same way, it is easy to root for Jenks even though he participated in the murder that brought about much of this situation and knocks over convenience stores for book money at school.

There is a lot of action that occurs outside of the book that is important to the plot and is deftly woven in without seeming as if it is a retelling of events. The characters hit the ground running and don’t stop, even after the police are satisfied. In a carefully orchestrated plot, several stories are going on at once, each part skimming the other, creating a kaleidoscopic effect until everything finally comes into focus.

The Pistol Poets is first rate entertainment, reminiscent of Elmore Leonard, with fast-talking, likeable characters and ridiculous situations. Many readers will be surprised as they find themselves eagerly turning the page for more of Jay and Jenks’s antics.

--Jennifer Monahan Winberry