Charlie Bradshaw is spending his 41st birthday in New York, trying to track down Sam, the son of his great high school love. Sam has gotten himself involved in a big-time drug deal, and everyone -- from Sam to the New York cop on the case -- wishes Charlie would go back to Saratoga to do his sleuthing.

But a combination of stubbornness and savvy -- to say nothing of Sam's enticing girlfriend -- keeps the small-town cop deep in the Big City mystery.

"Murder and mayhem in an unusually inviting climate." (The New York Times)