Glendon Swarthout "Skeletons" PDF

The skeleton in Jimmie Butters' closet is his ex-wife, Tyler. She is beautiful and obsessed, and enjoys painting coins and men's personals with red nail enamel. Her skeletons are two long-dead grandfathers and an old Colt revolver which she carries about with her like a doll. Tyler is also brilliant in bed and after a showdown between the sheets in New York City, she sweet talks Jimmie into galloping to New Mexico in his classic Rolls-Royce to track down some crimes, dig up some graves, and sample the regional cuisine.

In its remorsely skillful blending of the sinister present and the far-from-golden past, an onion-like puzzle is peeled away. Old-timers give way to bullets. Innocent men are made to run a Texas horserace -- in lawless New Mexico. There is rape. There is mayhem. There is love. Above all, there is one B. James Butters, author of children's books, who hates evil, fears violence, and is an engaging and unlikely a private eye as ever stalked his prey in Gucci loafers.