Funny Money Mass market paperbound - 2003

Summary

From the jacket flap

Tony Valentine has a gift for grift: He can walk into a casino and spot a cheater across a crowded floor. A man who still uses pay phones and won't spend more than a buck for coffee, Tony has protected Atlantic City gambling palaces for twenty years and learned every trick of the trade--until a new one blows him away.
With his old partner murdered in a bomb blast, Tony returns to A.C. to retrace Doyle Flanagan's last case. Investigating a six-million-dollar casino takedown, a square cop soon meets a whole lot of bent people, from a beautiful lady wrestler to some Manhattan mobsters; from a trio of beautiful casino "consultants" to a team of Eurotrash blackjack card counters. But while everyone around Tony Valentine (including Tony's own son) is playing some kind of angle, Tony is determined to find a killer who is playing for keeps. . . .

Media reviews

“FASCINATING . . . DAZZLING . . . ENTERTAINING . . . I CAN’T THINK OF A NOVEL I’VE ENJOYED MORE THIS YEAR.”
—Los Angeles Times

“Writing about a world where everyone is on the take, Swain has a soft spot for colorful characters. . . . [H]is direct style works just fine.”
—The New York Times Book Review

“SMART, SNAPPY . . . TREMENDOUSLY INFECTIOUS.”
—St. Petersburg Times