A Bullet For The Bad Guy

The first book in the Eddie Sillers offbeat private detective
crime thriller trilogy

Novel reviewed by E. S. Wyatt in July 2008

Cornered in an empty apartment, Eddie Sillers, Private Detective extraordinaire, is ambushed while tracking down a stolen Turkish carpet for a client of dubious circumstances.

Face to face with a former KGB agent and renowned bad guy, Col. Valentin Pudubny, Eddie finds his knack for reciting Shakespearian puns a more formidable defense than even his trusty 9mm hyper-fire Rossi.

Leaving his assailants paralyzed with the “crushing anxiety, confusion and panic-like symptoms” brought on by his wit and wisdom, Eddie is left to wonder if the whole carpet caper had been a trap.

He confronts his client with the accusation of a set up, reminding him that the Russian thug, “is a killer and he didn’t just show up at a five story dump on the West Side because he was bored and had nothing better to do.”

As he nurses a post-ambush root-beer float in a local strip club, Eddie spots a new dancer, who bears a striking resemblance to one of the Russian’s gunmen. As she dances, he comes to realize the trap being set is even more complex than he first imagined.

Thus begins the twisted tale of A Bullet for The Bad Guy, a novel by Arthur Davis. A Bullet for The Bad Guy is action-packed and full of quirky details that make Eddie Sillers a lovable, if sometimes exasperating, character.

In Sillers, Davis has created a signature character who twists and turns just at the time you think you can anticipate what he’ll do, or think, or say next.

A Bullet for The Bad Guy is offbeat and engaging, and a thoroughly enjoyable read.