Archie McNally is a handler of "discreet inquiries" at his father's
law firm. His clients are South Beach's most prominent names. McNally
has no trouble finding business because there's always a scandal on
the Gold Coast.
The problem du jour is a waiter who was found dead in a pool during an
exclusive charity event. Archy is hired to privately investigate the
crime and absolve the party'd attendees.
The victim may or may not have been blackmailing an acquaintance named
Lance Talbot. The number one suspect may or may not be the real Lance.
A sizable inheritance up for grabs may or may not have been a factor
in the murder.
McNally's Dare follows our favorite freeloading son as he quietly gets
to the bottom of the case. The series and its comical cast were
developed into bestseller material by Lawrence Sanders. After his
death, Vincent Lardo took over the series with the books continuing to
be published with Sanders' name on the cover.
The McNally books penned by Lardo are still entertaining, but there is
a slight difference. Archy was a campy, metrosexual (long before the
term existed) in pursuit of leisure under Sanders' pen. Now it's as
though Lardo brought McNally into the next milennium to compete with
more savvy counterparts in the bookstore, but many of his carefree
characteristics were left behind.
McNally's Dare is a fun mystery, but one can't help but wonder if
Archy is growing more serious at the hands of the series' heir.
