The February Trouble — Neil Albert

Disbarred lawyer turned PI Dave Garrett, a Vietnam veteran who suffers from flashbacks, works the Lancaster, Pa., area. Desperately needing cash after a court order halts payment on the high fee from his last case, he takes a suspicious new assignment involving a lucrative Chinese fast-food franchise whose manager, Bruce Chadwick, is getting nasty letters in the mail, bullet holes in the restaurant's walls and soap bubbles in the won ton soup. Chadwick's wife is abducted and her elderly neighbor murdered, but Dave still can't get beneath his client's cold exterior or persuade him to involve the police, who have placed the PI at the top of their suspect list. Dave uncovers a history of affairs, a dysfunctional son and an abrasive boss, all of which lead him to suspect that the kidnapping and subsequent ransom demand are bogus.