Fair Is Foul and Foul Is Fair — Larry Darter

Maverick L.A.P.D Detective Ben Malone, hero from Come What May, is back in another action-packed, thrilling adventure, this time as a Los Angeles private eye.

Start with a drop-dead gorgeous blonde socialite client, with an odd request, a penchant for seduction, and secrets to keep. Add a headstrong private eye known for playing it fast and loose with the rules, with a decided weakness for beautiful, sultry women. Then toss a murder and a vicious, ruthless mob boss into the mix for good measure. What could possibly go wrong?

In the midst of making his transition from a Los Angeles Police Department detective to running his own private investigations agency, Ben Malone receives a visit from a dazzling blonde with a pile of cash and an odd request. She wants to hire Malone to help with a rather unusual problem. The captivating blonde confides to Malone that she has witnessed a murder, but for some delicate, personal reasons, can't go to the police to report what she saw. Feeling sympathy for the woman, Malone agrees to help her and promises to keep her identity secret. The arrangement requires him to find, bring to the attention of the police, and implicate the murder suspects so that justice can take its course, without involving his mesmerizing client. At first, the case seemed innocuous enough, almost an easy money assignment. That was until things stared to unravel. Three more murders connected to the one witnessed by Malone's client occur before he even gets untracked. From there, like an out of control roller coaster, things go downhill fast and from bad to worse. Malone learns that the string of murders is mob-connected and the man believed behind them is the ruthless, vicious head of the Ukrainian mafia in Los Angeles. Malone soon discovers the crime boss will stop at nothing to get his hands on Malone's beautiful client. Malone's love interest, feisty psychiatrist Sara Bernstein gets caught in the crosshairs, and when the mobster orders her abduction, intent on using Sara as leverage to force Malone to betray the whereabouts of his client. Along the way, Malone also discovers that things may not be as they first appeared with his drop-dead gorgeous client. She may be a femme fatale up to her pretty little ears in some criminal behavior of her own. Malone races against time, first to rescue Bernstein, and then to sort the innocent from the guilty in time to find solutions to what rapidly evolves into a complicated web of deceit and criminal wrongdoing, where it seems that fair is foul, and foul is fair.