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In the beginning , it was simple. C J Kavanaugh, formerly of the Drugs Enforcement Agency but now making a living as Private Investigator was employed to prove that a man was having an adulterous affair. Antonio Fahrletti had confounded half a dozen PIs who'd been unable to prove that he was being unfaithful to his wife, but CJ was determined to be the one who got the proof. Luck was on his side, but not, it would seem, on Fahrletti's. In the meantime Clinton Windell ''knew'' that luck was on his side: he'd brought home twenty million dollars of uncut gems. The board hadn't believed that he could do it and a large part of his pleasure was that he was proving them wrong.
Then it got complicated. His daughter seemed to be on her own in the house. Where was his wife, the babysitter, the butler? She seemed to be sound asleep, so Windell left the doll he'd brought her where she would see it when she woke and went to his bedroom to change. And that was where it got nasty. Two men shot him and left with the gems. After that it got ''very'' strange. An anonymous personage employed CJ and his partner Renita to establish who killed Clinton Windell, only he hadn't to tell anyone what he was doing. It was only the substantial sum of money deposited in his bank account and the promise of an even larger sum on completion that persuaded Clinton that the job was worth doing.
I'd like to thank the publisher for sending a copy to the Bookbag.
If ''The Gem Connection'' appeals to you then we think you might also like [[Die A Little by Megan Abbott]]. We think you'll also enjoy Lane's [[UFOs and GOD: A Collection of Short Stories by Michael R Lane|collection of short stories]].
You can read more about Michael R Lane [[:Category:Michael R Lane|here]]