This is part of the Matt Scudder series and is an ancient paperback that I had apparently never read.
Although Matt does not drink, his AA meetings are an integral part of the novel.
TWO STORIES:
1) A husband and wife from Muncie, Indiana hire Scudder to find their daughter. She had been missing from her apartment for several weeks.
She was working as a waitress and teamed with a grifter and they were running a credit card scam. He took her to a cabin in the country and killed her. She was then fed to the hogs.
Matt tells the family that she was on a boat and she was killed by pirates.
2) One of Scudder's acquaintances, Eddie, from AA dies of auto-asphyxiation and Matt develops a relationship with this man's landlady, Willa. This woman is a functioning alcoholic and drinks around Scudder. This makes Matt increase his attendance at AA meetings.
It's revealed that Willa is kind of 'an angel of death'. She has been killing people in her apartment building so that she can buy them out and convert to condos. She also killed Eddie.
Matt gets her to confess while he is wearing a wire.
I love all of the Scudder series: set in 80's NYC and Matt's alcohol addiction is always central to the plot.
From a customer review on Amazon:
"This book introduces one of my favorite Scudder cronies; Mick Ballou. Mick is an interesting character built on the character of Bill the Butcher Poole. And the basis of the story is good too. A Midwestern girl comes to NYC to find fame and finds her killer instead. In the end, everyone gets what they deserve (except maybe Mick who is the bad guy you can't help but like). well told and well worth the read...all 18 of them!"
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