With Six You Get Wally (John Bekker Mystery)

Winner of the 2017 Nero Award for best mystery.

Wally Sample is a degenerate gambler who owes money to every major casino and loan sharks everywhere. He is also the youngest heir to the Sample Iced Tea Corporation and upon his fortieth birthday, if he can prove to the courts that he is cured of his gambling addiction, will take his place as the sixth controlling member of the iced-tea giant.


Problem is, a month short of turning forty, Wally's gambling habit is worse than ever. In desperation, he turns to Frank Kagan, the family attorney who decades ago prepared the will for Wally's deceased father and founder of Sample Iced Tea.


Kagan calls on his old friend John Bekker for help, asking Bekker to babysit Wally and prevent him from gambling for thirty days in order to meet the court's requirements. The assignment proves tougher than anyone imagined, but Bekker is determined to clean Wally up at all costs―even if it means facing down a killer.


Racing the clock until Wally's court appearance, Bekker finds himself in the middle of corporate greed and scandal and a deadly murder investigation, while trying to stay one step ahead of a crazed would-be killer who will definitely try again. And everything rests upon the very narrow shoulders of Wally Sample, who wants nothing more out of life than to find a winning scratch ticket and beat the odds.