Richmond Carlisle is a recent Yale graduate, and is reputed to have secured his position of investigative reporter for the Register & News through the powerful tentacles of his wealthy family. Family influence does not, however, buy him immunity from becoming the victim of a gruesome murder. His body is found less than thirty feet inside the jurisdiction where Jeb works.

Backtracking to Carlisle’s reporting assignments, Jeb learns that he had been working on two major stories: one that involved Bumpy Rhodes, a bail bondsman who Carlisle had exposed as posting bonds without sufficient collateral. That expose had cost Bumpy five hundred thousand dollars. The second story was far more sensitive politically because it involved Clendon Colter and the Colter dynasty.

Although Jeb had grown up in Comanche Gap, it takes the Carlisle murder for him to learn how the Colters have become so wealthy and are able to maintain their stranglehold on the community. Of course, this kind of investigation makes Jeb a target as well, and he and his partner soon find themselves fending off politicians, drug dealers and corrupt cops.

Swindle is a highly skilled writer who effortlessly constructs a very complicated plot that evolves logically, weaving together the threads of man’s rapacious greed and commitment to survival. The story’s conflicts involve persons from every socio-economic level and reach into highest political circles in the state. All of this is done with compelling characters and seamless segues.

If Doin’ Dirty brings nothing else to a reader, it will sharpen the awareness of a recovering alcoholic’s daily struggles not to succumb to their thirst for alcohol. And on a lighter note, it will leave the reader with lasting images of small town rural Texas.

Jeb’s romance with Madeline Meggers continues and serves to vary the pacing of the story. With few words, Swindle is able to create depth in his characters, and it is particularly impressive since it is done without making any assumptions whether or not the reader read the first book.

It is abundantly clear that the author lives in the area as well; the dialogue is sharp and stays in voice regardless of the gender or status of the speaker. It is certainly no surprise that Howard Swindle is an Edgar award nominee for true crime.

--Thea Davis