STRANGLE HOLD: A Tom Bethany Mystery

Tom Bethany #2

by Jerome Doolittle

"Tom Bethany is some guy-Mr. Doolittle is a slick stylist. His characters have heft-they talk like the people they're supposed to be."
-New York times.

"One of those books you'll stay up all night to finish"
-Cleveland Plain Dealer.

"Ranks with Robert Parker, Elmore Leonard, Ed McBain and Ross Thomas as a high-voltage storyteller:"
-Charles Champlin, Los Angeles Times.

Genres: Mystery

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1992

Reviews

[Susan Dennis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm really getting addicted to these Tom Bethany mysteries. The tone is perfect and the plot is very satisfying - kind of things you want to see happen to bad guys but rarely really do.

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

#2 in the Tom Bethany series. This series, with entries named after wrestling holds, is engaging but one of the most unusual I have read.
Bethany audits classes at Harvard and wrestles in their gym. His lover is married and he sees her only on rare occasions. He fits in an iconoclastic category with Spenser and Travis McGee. Definitely recommended.

Tom Bethany looks into the death of Morton Limbach. He seems to have died of autoerotic asphyxia, but the insurance company claims suicide and refuses to pay a half million to the beneficiary, the ACLU. The insurance company CEO has an old grudge against ACLU lawyer Hope Edwards, Bethany's lover.

[LJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

[From Fantastic Fiction:] Doolittle features his fascinating sleuth Tom Bethany in a "clean . . . sharp and powerful" (Cleveland Plain Dealer) follow-up to Body Scissors. Tom investigates what seems less like a case of kink and more a case of killing, when a wealthy man dies of autoerotic asphyxia and the insurance company calls it suicide and won't pay off his beneficiary.

I enjoyed this and would read more.

STRANGLE HOLD (PI-Tom Bethany-Boston-Cont) - G
Doolittle, Jerome - 2nd in series

[Terry · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second entry in a fine detective series by Jerome Doolittle featuring Tom Bethany; former Air America pilot,army grunt and Olympic caliber wrestler who utilizes brains and brawn to rectify problems confronted.