Scratched

Algy Temple #3

by J.J. Partridge

When Algy Temple, pool player, sleuth and Ivy League university lawyer, investigates the highly suspicious death of a retired university don, his contemporaneous involvement in a high stakes pool tournament in Providence becomes a tiresome, contentious obligation that must be endured. As he delves into the life of the deceased, he unexpectedly finds himself on a path that leads him to Rome, the vendetta-ridden Boot of Italy and into a haunted past of corruption and conspiracy with a linkage to the tournament, gambling, shylocks, and mobsters unexpected even in Providence where old world shadows hang heavy in the air. Add an abduction, a Ponzi, an outraged Italo-American community locked in a culture war with the University, a hustler s last gambit for recognition, and a fiance focused on their wedding in two weeks, his investigation becomes a match of wits with a dead man, and a pool wager of life and death."

Genres: Mystery

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

I am the author of three crime novels in the Algy Temple series of mysteries. According to Publisher's Weekly, the latest "Scratched" is an'excellent,' 'witty and well written whodunit.' I know my gritty, idiosyncratic state like few others. After graduating from Providence College and Harvard Law School, I served in the U.S. Army's Military Intelligence in Vietnam. I spent the next decades practicing law in Providence where I was involved in politics and economic development and was active as a director of various civic entitles and policy councils. A film buff, I have been seen in the Hollywood productions of Meet Joe Black and The Last Shot and in episodes of The Brotherhood. After the successful Carom Shot and Straight Pool, I continued the pool motif in Scratched with the notorious n'drangheta, the most viscious gang in Italy.

Reviews

[James Baar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Algy Temple, a world-wise Ivy League university lawyer and expert pool player, joins the exclusive club of gentleman sleuths who deal brilliantly with the criminal mind. Algy is particularly entertaining as he moves through the complexities of dark doings in Rhode Island where crime and politics are often well mixed.