Ronald W. Adams

Key Lime Squeeze By Ronald W. Adams
Enspiren Press
Cozies and amateur sleuth novels abound, often overshadowing each other with a barrage of witty dialogue, and crime fighting tactics of the detective. Thank goodness some stand out above the rest.
In Mr. Adams novel, "Key Lime Squeeze," we get a fabulously happy family man in our hero, Joe Banks, private eye and man for hire. Totally likable, this character finds himself set against a mob family, and their various sub-cells. Banks has been working undercover, trying to infiltrate the world of liquor thieves. His point of contact is with Jerry and Bill, dock-rats and truckers. Joe Banks has been working for the insurance company hired by the mob family, the Cantalinos, to catch the crooks stealing the booze. Finally, a break in the case lands Joe in the right place at the right time, and Jerry and Bill are caught, but he ends up with lead in his rear-view for his efforts.
Robert Boothby, the insurance mogul hired by the family to catch the crooks has fallen in love with an internet fling. The problem is his wife is Angela Cantalino. He decides to take money he’s been skimming from the Cantalinos, and run off to the Keys with his new love. This bad idea is turned into a job for Joe when the Cantalinos send him after their insurance man, aka the brother-in-law.
Paula, Joe’s savvy wife, has to hold down the fort while he goes off to Florida and discovers dear Jerry and Bill have been bailed out and are looking to finish off their old dock buddy, Joe. She puts serious hurt on the two and sends the Cantalino family a new message. Don’t mess with Joe, or his family. She’s not happy with her husband's choice of employment, but waits for him dutifully.
Once in the Keys, and accompanied by Solomon, a hired gun of the Cantalino family sent along for support, Joe finds an old friend in the person of Terry Brinkwater, scum of the Florida bar scene. Terry, with his young protégé, adds much to the stumbling blocks placed before our hero in his mission to find the bad brother-in-law, recover the stolen money, and get home to his wife before she scalps him.
Full of humor and twisty construction, Key Lime Squeeze is a delightful, fast, fun read that will thrill fans of Carl Hiassen. Colorful banter, accurate and sensational scene-setting, and action, action, action will keep the reader glued to their seat until the very end.
---Kim Smith, author of Avenging Angel, a Shannon Wallace Mystery