Now You See Her, Now You Don't: A Shifty Lou Anderson Novel [Hardcover]

The good news is that Shifty Lou Anderson, the professional magician with nearly a second career in horseracing, is back (after We're Off to See the Killer). Upon seeing tall, redheaded Megan Starbuck at Hollywood Park, the immediately smitten Lou wangles an introduction. The daughter of a semi-retired horse-trainer, Meg works PR for Wayne Copeland, near-legendary movie cowboy who heads America One, a right-wing group that seems intent on grabbing for their leader the 1996 Republican presidential nomination. Meg's sudden disappearances continually interrupt her affair with Lou, to whom she finally admits that she's undercover for the FBI. After Copeland's retiring, alcoholic wife is murdered, Lou noses around and Meg warns him off. Then rumors circulate linking Megan and her boss romantically. Even with the colorful California racing scene lovingly detailed, the bad news here is the plot's abrupt, disappointing finish which, despite its suggestion of more to come, will leave readers feeling cheated.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Magician and horse-race fan Shifty Lou Anderson (I'm Gettting Killed Right Here, LJ 11/1/91) returns for the Hollywood Park summer races. There he falls for a mysterious red-haired woman while dealing with murder and deception among wealthy and powerful bettors.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

"Shifty" Lou Anderson meets the woman of his dreams in this, his eighth appearance in Murray's entertaining series of racetrack mysteries. Megan Starbuck is a leggy redhead who knows horses, appreciates Shifty's magic tricks, and seems to crave his body, so what could be missing from the relationship? Just Megan herself, whose frequent disappearances first annoy, then worry Shifty enough to distract him from his handicapping at Del Mar, where the brilliant colt Superpatriot is all the rage. Superpatriot is owned by a former actor with extreme right-wing views who seems to be using both the colt and Megan to pave the way for an assault on the presidency. Shifty objects, only to discover just how rough a game politics can be. Murray demonstrates again that his sense of pace is as good as any jockey's; the unsuspecting reader will soon find himself turning pages at a furious clip. Dennis Dodge

Horseplaying magician Shifty Lou Anderson, whose eye for horseflesh is a lot sharper than his instinct for women, is involved with a suitably unsuitable new lady: Megan Starbuck, a PR consultant for Wayne Copeland, a movie star with big political plans that are being financed by a right-wing fund-raising octopus called America One. The trouble with Megan is that she keeps disappearing from San Diego, saying she'll call and then jetting off to L.A. or Washington, or getting phone calls at 5 a.m. and asking Shifty to leave. The sex is great, Shifty concedes, but he wonders if he'll ever have breakfast or a conversation with her. As the Del Mar racing season breezes through the summer, Wayne-- buoyed by the continued success of his horse Superpatriot, ``America's horse,'' an animal whose winnings are donated to all the right charities--seems to be gearing for a run for the White House. But the more brief encounters Shifty savors with Megan, the more he's troubled by the bad things that happen to Wayne's entourage--the execution of America One founder Bob Goldman and his family, the beating of Superpatriot's groom, the murder of Wayne's inoffensive wife--and the more he wonders where Megan's been spending all her time outside the sheets. Ross Perot with the presence of John Wayne makes an amusingly scary conceit for a political thriller, but Murray (We're Off to See the Killer, 1993, etc.) never allows the thriller to take wings because he's left his heart in Del Mar; only the racing background blooms with his customary alchemy. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Shifty Lou Anderson, the track-obsessed magician, has fallen in love again in his latest mystery, this time with Megan Starbuck, whose habit of suddenly disappearing leads Shifty into a maze of murder and deceit. 12,500 first printing. $10,000 ad/promo.