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Tapply Series Has Just The 'Ticket' For Mystery Fans

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By AL HUTCHISON

Published: December 23, 2007

"One-Way Ticket: A Brady Coyne Novel," by William G. Tapply (St. Martin's Minotaur, $23.95)

Despite his many achievements, William G. Tapply remains a relatively obscure American author. His handbook, "The Elements of Mystery Fiction: Writing a Modern Whodunit," may be popular on college campuses and at writing workshops, but his Brady Coyne novels seldom draw much attention.

"One-Way Ticket" is a typical Coyne tale. Its splendid plot, excellent character portrayals and spirited suspense should give Tapply a well-deserved boost among new readers who tend to think that any Boston-based mystery must be written by Robert B. Parker.

Tapply's novels may lack Parker's snappy dialogue, but in all other respects they're at least their equal. Yet Tapply has never enjoyed the success that Parker has earned with his Spenser mysteries and other novels.

Coyne is a Boston lawyer who in "One-Way Ticket" faces two serious situations, one professional and one personal. The first involves a kidnapping (of a client's son, a compulsive gambler) that forces Coyne into dangerous encounters with the leaders of Boston's most menacing criminal gang. The second has his live-in girlfriend, Evie, flying to San Francisco to take care of her dying father.

Coyne has no idea when, or if, Evie will return. She bought a one-way ticket.

His separation and potential estrangement from Evie is of considerable interest, but it's really the sideshow. The more compelling drama has lives and personal fortunes at stake, and Coyne is honor-bound (because, against his better judgment, he has agreed with the victim's family) not to involve the police or the FBI.

That's because the victim's grandmother is a prominent judge who dreads negative publicity. She might genuinely regret her grandson's murder, but not as much as the stain on her family's hitherto impeccable reputation.

So Coyne sets out on his own, and his quest takes him down some dangerous blind alleys and introduces him to the savage, primitive justice meted out by the mob. Before it's over, he understands why the victim seems so strangely unwilling to ask his wealthy family to help him pay off his gambling debts.

At the end, neither the reader nor Coyne knows when, or if, Evie will come back to him. Tapply knows his faithful readers will rush to grab his next book to find out.

Like Parker's Spenser, Coyne is a thoroughly likeable character. He also happens to find himself drawn into one life-threatening situation after another.

Both authors have found a satisfying formula. Tapply's seems more like a main course to Parker's delicious desserts.

Al Hutchison of Inverness is a freelance writer.

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