The enemies Vietnam veteran Daniel McCloud made a generation ago catch up with him at his rural New England hideaway, sending Boston lawyer Brady Coyne, who befriended McCloud while defending him on marijuana charges, on a murder hunt. 12,500 first printing. Tapply, probably as popular as Robert Parker, gives series protagonist Brady Coyne another chance to shine. This time, Coyne represents Daniel McCloud, a reclusive Vietnam veteran and Agent Orange victim accused of trafficking in marijuana (which he requires as a medicine). The state drops the case without explanation, but Coyne becomes friendly with McCloud, who then asks him to get his book published. After the book disappears and someone murders McCloud, Coyne hastens to uncover what damning knowledge the man possessed. Polished prose, comfortable characters and surroundings, and an elegantly twisted plot produce a winner. Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. Vietnam vet Dan McCloud is a victim of agent orange whose only relief comes from smoking homegrown pot. When his rural Massachusetts garden is raided by a vindictive local cop, Boston lawyer-sleuth Brady Coyne comes to his defense. Coyne, more at ease with Brahmins than ex-Berets, takes the case at the request of a college chum and strikes up a friendship with the enigmatic McCloud and his lover, Cammie Russell. McCloud asks his new, connected friend to place a manuscript he's written. Brady forwards it to a publisher friend who loves it. The friend is killed. McCloud is murdered. Coyne, drawn to Cammie, looks for the connection and the killer. Reading about someone as endearing as Brady Coyne is always enjoyable, but this thirteenth installment in the series is well below Tapply's high standards. Readers will recognize the killer almost immediately, and the rogue cop's behavior is explained in very unsatisfactory terms. Still, the ongoing popularity of the series makes the book's purchase mandatory for most collections. Wes Lukowsky A rare criminal client for Boston probate attorney Brady Coyne (Tight Lines, 1992, etc.)--Daniel McCloud, arrested for growing 70 pounds of cannabis that he insists he's using to alleviate the effects of Agent Orange--leads to one of Brady's strangest cases when the marijuana charges are abruptly dropped and a manuscript that Brady's agreed to send to New York literary agent Al Coleman turns out to be fatal to both Daniel and Coleman. There's more skulduggery afoot, too, since a file that Daniel marked ``Insurance'' contains particulars on eight men who have died or disappeared under mysterious circumstances. What did these eight guys have in common, and what in the manuscript is so explosive that even Brady's oldest friends are warning him off the case? As you'd expect, the answers aren't quite as good as the questions, but this entry relies less on atmosphere and more on mystery than any of Brady's outings in years. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. Hardcover English Acid free text