a. K. a. Mandi Wine : A Mandi Wine/Johnny Cohen Mystery

Life seemed anything but simple to aerobics instructor/private investigator Amanda Seraphina Strowski. With an errant husband who preferred to live life on the cusp of drugged-out insanity, to a low-level malaise that she couldn't quite put her finger on, Mandi's life seemed to be constantly mirrored by her automotive troubles and her constant unsuccessful quest to return to her maiden name. When her uncle, Sebastian Wine, invites her to lunch at Skuldany's, a Seattle hotspot, she would have never guessed that he would be dead before the day was over, brutally stabbed to death in what the police seem to want to characterize as a drug deal gone bad. Such besmirching of her uncle's name alone might have caused Mandi to search for his murderer. But it soon becomes clear that Mandi must find her uncle's killer in order to save her own life. She is joined by a retired Seattle policeman, Johnny Cohen, who soon sees the African American beauty as the daughter that he never had. Working feverishly to track down Sebastian's murderer, Mandi Wine and Johnny Cohen stumble onto an alliance of criminal gangs that threaten to flood the region with illicit drugs to an extent no one would have thought possible. Along the way, they are joined in the investigation by police lieutenant S. T. Harrison, and his African American partner Barry Jones, who has recently joined the Seattle Police Department on loan from Spokane. Mandi's best friend, Cliff Wheeler, loyal to a fault, puts his life on the line to try and help Mandi save herself and avenge her uncle. Tautly plotted and filled with Vin Smith's patented fascinating characters, a.k.a. Mandi Wine is a triumph of American storytelling.