Narrator Fritz Malone is a private detective working in New York. He has joined the crowd watching the Thanksgiving Day Parade when he spies a lone gunman aiming at Mother Goose on a parade float. He shouts for people to get down, but the gunman shoots several people including a policeman. Fritz grabs the dead cop’s gun and goes in pursuit.

He and the gunman are captured and put in separate police cruisers. To his surprise, Fritz is driven around New York rather than being taken immediately to a police station. He is later informed that the mayor has received blackmail threats against the city. The fear is that this is a demonstration that the threats were serious. The blackmailer is being called “Nightmare.” Fritz is troubled when he learns that the gunman, Roberto Diaz, was shot and killed while cuffed at a police station by another cop.

Fritz is the illegitimate son of a former Police Commissioner who disappeared mysteriously. He resigned from police training because he chafed against the many rules. He began working as a private detective under an older detective, Charlie Burke, now disabled and retired. Fritz is romantically involved with Margo, Charlie’s daughter.

Fritz is hired by the police to provide protection for Rebecca Gilpin, the singer-actress who was Mother Goose in the parade. She is the mayor’s girlfriend, and there are concerns that she may be targeted again. When a bomb goes off in the restaurant where Fritz and Rebecca are talking, it’s apparent that Roberto Diaz was not working alone.

Another letter from Nightmare is received. This one leads Fritz to a convent. Does a nun’s suicide have any connection with the plot to blackmail the city?

It’s not likely that this is the only time readers will meet up with Fritz Malone. This debut mystery sets a solid foundation for further adventures. Besides being the best hope of protection for America’s largest city, Fritz has a lot of personal issues including strained relations with his father’s wife and half-siblings, his relationship with Margo Burke and her family, his irreverent attitude towards authority. Moreover, Fritz is an interesting hero who has appeal on his own.

Speak of the Devil is well plotted with enough turns and twists to hold readers’ interest. Its out-of-left-field ending is all that kept me from awarding it TMR’s highest five-star rating. This one will appeal both to readers of detective novels and fans of thrillers and comes strongly recommended. Fritz Malone is a hero and Richard Hawke an author whom mystery readers will want to get to know.

--Lesley Dunlap