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Jack Olsen's Hastened to the Grave: The Gypsy Murder Investigation features a delightful hero: a female private investigator who calls herself "Rat Dog Dick." Rat Dog relies on an ancient Everex 286 computer (Evil Evie), a Toyota Tercel (The Frog Prince) that is so outrageously green it's useless for surveillance, and a big, funny-looking dog (Beans). She is probably the best skip tracer (someone who finds people) in San Francisco. Once she gets her teeth into the "Foxglove" case--several old people who dwindle and die quickly after being "befriended" by a local Gypsy family--the fact that she has no client to pay her for her work is just not an issue. The police are ignoring clear evidence of elder abuse, and Rat Dog is outraged. We follow every step of her adventures as she learns a whole lot about Gypsies and turns into a fierce advocate for the elderly. Jack Olsen's prose style is supple and engaging, with funny dialogue and colorful characters worthy of an Elmore Leonard novel. His observations about people (especially women) are priceless, and his account of Gypsy crime and police negligence is balanced and thought-provoking. Hastened to the Grave is a true crime classic by a master at the top of his form. --Fiona Webster
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