Monkey on a Chain

High on a mountain above Albuquerque lives a man who's a throwback to the outlaw heroes of the Old West. Rainbow Porter lives on the edge, watches his back, and occasionally drops into the valley below to lend a hand to those in trouble.

To his door comes lovely Eurasian April Bow, adopted daughter of one of his Vietnam buddies, to appeal for help: her father has been blasted to bits in his California home by a mine, leaving her orphaned, broke, and scared to death. Responding, Rainbow begins a quest that turns into a journey back into his own past -- where he and a very select few did very well profiteering out of the war -- to find out why accounts, literal and figurative, appear to have been reopened....

This first mystery combines appealing characters with a well-paced adventure staged in New Mexico, Arizona, and Mexco with a sidetrip to the Philippines.

Recommended to fans of John D. MacDonald and Randy Wayne White, whose stubborn Travis McGee and Doc Ford would be pleased to figure in Rainbow's story.