Material Witness

Material Witness, by Robert K. Tanenbaum
I liked this one as well. We got introduced to Harry Bello, and we see Marlene start to save him from his doom. We also get to meet Lucy, who is born during the book. We still have the gay couple downstairs that disappears somewhere later in the series, they play a major role in this one. Butch takes the fall for one of his ADAs, takes a leave of absence and pursues the main crime in the book while playing for the New York "Hustlers" as a 12th man. The premise seemed a bit lame, but I chalk it up in my head to a 1970s era NBA, pre-Magic and Larry. The book was written in 1993, though, and it involved an NBA star found shot in his car with drugs. It made me think a lot of Len Bias. I wonder if there was more to that story that we never heard or if "Tanenbaum" used that as a starting point. I also saw at the beginning of this book and a couple of others, Tanenbaum thanks our other author who "is primarily responsible for this manuscript". So why did Tanenbaum's name go on it? I was thinking about why I like this series. It is graphic, but not as graphic as Patterson. The main character is cool, smart, and the dialogue is funny. The solutions to the crime are logical and meticulous. Those things appeal to me. As does this series.