Nash, Rambler

Northwestern student Nash Hansen's internship at the San Bernardino Ledger doesn't last long. Within weeks, he is fired by his editor for playing journalistic hardball with Evan Carr, a local powerbroker with an inexplicable fondness for renovating drive-in theaters and sketchy ties to a band of far-right Christian survivalists. Nash suspects that Carr had something to do with a multiple murder, and he won't pass up the chance to break a big story-- even if he no longer technically works for a paper. With the help of his Hell's Angel of a roommate and a delightfully acerbic veteran reporter, Nash just might get one hell of a clip--if he can keep himself from being killed by an unsavory cast of corrupt cops and gun-toting ministers. Witty dialogue and excellent pacing make for fun reading in this first novel, and the tough but sensitive Nash (he's the kind of hero who may catch the killers but won't ever get the girl) is a protagonist readers will hope to see again.