Sunday, November 23, 2008

Boca Knights-Steven M. Forman

Boca Knights
Steven M. Forman
Forge, Feb. 2009, $24.95
ISBN 9780765319876

Eddie Perlmutter grew up in Boston's North Side as a Jew in a sea of Italian Catholics. He became a cop who cared. He used his experience in the Golden Gloves to teach youngsters to box. His confident since early puberty is his stand erect penis who always talks back. After years of honorable services late fifties Eddie retired due to arthritis. He leaves the cold New England climate for the heart of Boca Ration assuming that the warmth will be good for his sore bones.

However, Boca may be an elixir physically, but mentally he feels out of place. As his retirement ennui grows, he gets involved in local criminal matters so to avoid legal trouble he gets a private investigator license. Excited by the sudden change in venue, Eddie gets involved with the Russian Mafia, the homicide of a golf pro, neo-Nazis and a lovely nurse earning him the title "Boca Knight" at least for his encounters with the first three contacts.

Over the top with a zany offbeat humor, BOCA KNIGHTS is a delightful satirical crime caper that enhances the already capital of quirkiness, the South Florida private investigative world. The story line contains several suspenseful subplots that are fun to follow although at times can be humorously campy. With a strong cast of eccentric and dangerous individuals causing havoc, readers will enjoy this fast-paced tale; superbly held together by Eddie, who finds his niche stirring up seemingly anyone who resides along the I-95 corridor south of the Palms and north of Lauderdale after he failed miserably at retirement 101.

Harriet Klausner