BRIAN M. WIPRUD – Crooked. Nominated for the PWA Best Private Eye Paperback Original of the Year, 2007, and for the Barry Award Best Paperback Original of the Year, 2007.

Dell, paperback, July 2006.

   Book description:

Crooked

Nicholas Palihnic is a natty, tweed-suited hustler who knows every nook and cranny of New York – and a thousand ways to break a girl’s heart. Beatrice Belarus is a Manhattan art dealer with an insatiable appetite for money–and for anyone who gets in her way. And a painting titled Trampoline Nude, 1972 has neither nudity nor a trampoline. But when Nicholas is hired by an insurance company to find the recently stolen painting, a murdered art thief points him to a trove of gold buried beneath Manhattan – and suddenly all roads are leading back to Beatrice. As fortune hunters, lovers, and other strangers gather around him, there’s one thing Nicholas must remember above all else: in this business, it’s better to be crooked than dead….

   About the Author:

Brian Wiprud attended NYU film school before settling on a career in utility infrastructure. He is an avid fly fisherman and collector of taxidermy, two hobbies which, improbably, feature in his novels. His latest accomplishments include:
      * Independent Mystery Bookseller’s Association Bestseller
      * 2002 Lefty Award for Most Humorous Novel
      * 2003 Barry Award Nominee for Best Paperback Original

   Review excerpt:

Publishers Weekly: “Wiprud’s engaging, hard-boiled style draws readers into both the art world and the underworld of New York, and his colorful cast keeps things moving with wit to spare – especially the plucky lead. Some pieces of this tale hang loose […] but the journey is a thrilling one, with an ending even the most astute readers won’t see coming.”

   Nicholas Palihnic is the brother of taxidermy collector and dealer Garth Carson, who previously appeared in:

Pipsqueak. Dell, paperback, June 2004.

Stuffed. Dell, paperback, May 2005.

   Newly released:

Tailed. Dell, paperback, May 2007. [with both Garth Carson and Nicholas Palihnic]