Jackpot by John Owens

Jackpot: A Jake Lydon Mystery Series (Book 4)

In his fourth outing in the series, Jake Lydon is committed to a winter within stumbling distance of a beach and a tiki-bar until a ghost from his past re-appears — as a corpse — and passes on a cryptic message. Does this note from the grave hold the key to solving a murder and the motive behind it? A self-admitted “nosy little bugger,” Jake just has to find out, doesn’t he? So off he sets, traipsing across America from the Gulf Coast of Florida to the Pacific North-West and to a windswept farmer’s field outside, of all places, Tulsa, Oklahoma. Along the way he is drawn deeper and deeper into the shady side of high-stakes gambling and an outrageous scheme to take down scores of tribal-owned casinos to the tune of tens of millions of dollars. As murder after murder pile up, Jake will be forced into a deadly confrontation with a sinister crime boss — a confrontation where the winner takes all.

Is Jackpot punctuated with sudden violence, twisting plot turns, memorable new characters, and outrageous humour, all revolving around a “hero” we’re not sure even a mother could love?
You can bet on it.