The Case of the Miami Blackmailer — S.N. Bronstein

Private investigator Fairlington Lavender was considering the merit of downing another cup of coffee at his usual breakfast caf when his cell phone rang. He decided against more caffeine, tossed the paper cup in the trash, and answered the call that displayed a "305" area code. This indicated the call was from Miami and therefore it had the potential to be from a prospective client.

It was Friday, January 2nd, 2009 and Lavender was finding his holiday break from the Washington, D.C. agency he worked for to be tedious. He was looking for an excuse to leave the cold winter climate and return home to South Florida.

The call was from Rochelle Talbot, the victim of a nefarious blackmail plot. When Lavender takes her case, it leads him on a four month journey from Washington to Miami Beach and New York in search of a killer.

Lavender quickly resolves Talbot's blackmail case but he becomes entangled in a murder when Scott Diamante, Talbot's blackmailer, kills Shea Hurley. Hurley, a prostitute and the partime girlfriend of Diamante is killed when Scott suspects that she helped Lavender solve the blackmail case. Driven by a sense of guilt over Hurleys murder, Fairlington Lavender once again sets out to seek justice for those who can no longer speak for themselves.

Detective Lavender tangles with the DEA, a Miami Beach cop who resents him, and a crew of Miami drug dealers as he tracks down Scott Diamante and seeks to bring him to justice. As always, Lavender incurs the wrath of everyone he encounters as he employs deception, guile, cunning, and old school detective work in search of his suspect.

The Case of the Miami Blackmailer moves more quickly than the jets that carry Lavender up and down the east coast right behind Scott Diamante.