A san Francisco election using touch screen voting machines appears to have been tampered causing his employer not to like the results. He and Chris are out looking behind the scenes to see which political group is the likely bad guy.

there is a funny run-in with an ATM being stolen and a little rivalry between August and the theif.

Love the Sam Spade references and sites ( )

he fiasco of the presidential election in Florida was a heads up for both election officials and the public on the dangers of the voting booth. Runoff by Mark Coggins takes the warnings to the next level. In this forth book starring PI August Riordan, he is hired to see if someone interfered in San Fransico's mayoral election by interfering with the new touch screen voting machines.

Lenora Lee hires August to investigate an election that is a run off between two candidates. As the leader of the Chinatown scene, she feels it is odd that her candidate did not even win the vote in her community. August's job is to determine of there is any way the election's new voting machines could have been tampered with. The allure of Lenora's daughter is not an unwelcomed bonus to the job either. But as the bodies start to appear August realizes there may be more danger to this one than he expected. In a secondary but interwoven plot line he also takes it upon himself to try to solve the mystery of the ATM thefts occurring through out the area. The story is of course more in depth than this summary but read it to find out. Seriously, read this book.

Mark Coggins has taken us back into the world of the strong PI fiction. He has created a character that can hold his own in the long tradition of private investigators. August Riordan has the attitude and both the desire and backbone to do the right thing. Justice for all, damn the consequences. Coggins is able to write the required dialogue that sizzles with the tongue in cheek humor expected in such a novel.

The setting of Chinatown adds the appeal of a strong place identity and the ability to add different characters and events. Cleavers do make a fun, albeit unusual, warning. Lenora Lee, her daughter and all their surrounding allies and enemies are fleshed out acknowledgments to the classic Asian villain characters. The author walks the fine line between over done stereotypes and fresh faces with a finesse that is a tribute to the genre without ever becoming trite.

As another classic hallmark of the crime noir he also examines a current issue that should alarm all citizens who appreciate the right to elect officials. The twist of the touch screen voting machine brings this ageless classic genre into the modern times, smack into the 21st century.

Coggin takes the hard boiled egg of the classic novel and fries it lightly to perfection.

Fourth in the August Riordan series, featuring a number of classic PI features (a gal Friday, smart aleck dialog, a fair amount of gunplay and fisticuffs) as well as a very timely topic, election fraud through electronic voting machines. The evocative photographs at the start of each chapter add an unusual and pleasing visual element.