The Billionaire — Robert Upton

"Upton deserves a standing ovation."
- Publisher's Weekly

San Francisco Private eye Amos McGuffin is prowling the back alleys and penthouses of Manhattan in search of the killer of a billionaire real-estate developer, but before long, he is fighting for his life in the Big Apple.

The whole deadly affair begins when McGuffin's ex-wife, an aspiring actress, takes their daughter with her to New York while she breaks into Broadway. All she is really breaking is McGuffin's heart by refusing to go back to California. His unexpected solution is to accept a job offer from billionaire developer Victor Belmont to find out who hired a bungling bomber who blew himself up along with Belmont's Mercedes in an attempt on Belmont's life. But why hire an out-of-town investigator? That's the question McGuffin should ask himself as he works New York's mean streets right into the biggest trouble of his life.

Of course, it doesn't take long for McGuffin to figure out there are plenty of people who would like Belmont dead. There's his brother, next in line for the family's fortune. There's the long-time business rival he's just snookered in a deal. There's the society bookie, the sultry nightclub singer . . . and that's just the top of the heap. It's a case of East Side, West Side, all around the town as McGuffin follows the trail from Belmont's skyscraper office to a condemned Hell's Kitchen block, from a lavish penthouse to a rundown walk-up in Queens. But results are hard to come by, and it begins to look like he's being underpaid even at twice his normal price since dead men don't cash paychecks . . . and someone wants McGuffin dead. As witty and entertaining as ever, Robert Upton really goes to town with a mystery as fast-paced and exciting as New York itself.

"Fast, upbeat, and funny . . ."
- Rocky Mountain News

"One of the most delightful gumshoes in fiction."
- Times & Democrat

". . . the hippest gumshoe around . . ."
- Melvin Von Peebles