Hanging the Devil - Tim Maleeny

 

Hanging the Devil is Tim Maleeny's sixth "Cape Weathers Mystery," but because it has been four years since the fifth novel in the series was published, it was important that this one work equally well as a standalone. And it most certainly does. 

Cape Weathers is a San Francisco private investigator who partners up with Sally Mei, the "self-appointed guardian of Chinatown." Cape is a formidable investigator with a lot of connections that help him cut corners within the SFPD, but readers are going to enjoy the man's wit as much as they do his investigatory adventures. Sally is a young Chinese woman who began receiving martial arts training from a Chinese triad as soon as she could walk. Still known as the "Little Dragon" within the Chinese criminal world, Sally is a legend despite having escaped that world for her new life in San Francisco. 

But that criminal world intrudes on Sally's new life one day in the form of Grace, an eleven-year-old Hong Kong girl who has been smuggled into San Francisco to live with her museum security guard uncle. Grace becomes the only living witness to a helicopter crash into the city's Asian Art Museum and what happens immediately after inside the museum. Now on the run for her life, Grace literally runs right into the protective arms of Sally Mei. And after Cape hears the little girl's story, he contracts with her - at the hefty price of twenty-five cents - to protect her life and to catch those responsible for the art-theft-gone-bad that she witnessed.

 Hanging the Devil is quite a Mission Impossible kind of thriller that will keep readers turning pages. But rather surprisingly, it is the relationships between the main characters (and some of the side characters) that make this tale so much fun to read. Neither Cape and Sally nor readers are immune to the charms of Grace, the little dynamo of a girl who soon begins to morph into Sally's own mini-me sidekick. Even some of the villains in the story are so likable that it can be difficult to wish them a bad end. And all of it is held together beautifully by the cleverness and wit on display from Cape and others. 

Tim Maleeny is a superb storyteller, and if you are willing to go along for the ride, you are going to have a whole lot of fun with Hanging the Devil.

Tim Maleeny jacket photo