Fascinating Authors

Book Review
by
John H. Manhold

Kings Rapids ISBN 9781440139833, iUniverse, paperback 302 pages $14.95 by Jim Overturf

This volume is one of “The Kurt Maxxon Series’ where the main protagonist is a retired Marine Air Force Colonel who races cars in a small track series and is well known as director of races at the Kings Rapids track. He also owns an auto parts store, lost his spouse, who was the love of his life, some years ago and now has a close friend relationship with a woman who had a similar loss.

In this episode, Kurt has acquired a new puppy that provides a convenient prop for action in the story. On arriving for a race at Kings Rapids he discovers the body of a dead member of the racing community, reports it, and the plot begins to unfold. It seems that the body was that of a man (Rusty) who was an excellent mechanic and repaired expensive cars secretly for a number of wealthy women, taking sexual favors on the side for keeping the repairs at the secret level.

A live-in girl friend of Rusty’s was booted out just before the murder and is jailed because of abundant evidence. Kurt does not believe she is guilty and sets out to prove her innocence.  His endeavors take him on a circuitous trip through a number of the wealthy wives where he also discovers that Rusty was about to sell his business and run away with one of his amorous customers. The story is complicated by the question of whether the killer was a jealous woman or, perhaps, one of the husbands suffering from the same emotion. A further complication is provided by another mystery woman whose car Rusty also had repaired, but it was a car well below the level of those driven by the other customers.

A number of official people also are involved, and Kurt demonstrates a kind side of his personality by befriending an old couple, where the woman probably is in the early stages of Alzheimer’s and the husband has a brain tumor, but is greatly impressed with Kurt and his racing ability.

The story gradually moves to an explosive climax after which all loose ends are gathered together – an act frequently left undone.

In general, Jim Overturf has done a good job and iUniverse has done a passable job in proofing the manuscript.