Nan Willard Cappo

Milo Shoemaker's father is dead; a victim of a suicide. When he finds books on how to commit fraud in his father's library, Milo wonders if his father is a cheat as well as a coward. But could his father have been conducting his own investigation of the mighty Wolverine Motors? Milo takes a year off from college and finagles a job with Wolverine. His best friend, Zaffer, is also hired so the two spend the summer infiltrating the Company. The book offers an array of suspicious characters: the owner of the company, Alf Farnon, the chief controller, Gordon/George Pearce, the owner's beautiful daughter, Ellie. There are stake-outs, chases, and a thrilling show-down. The ending is unsettling: the good guys and the bad guys are not all that they seem.

As in Cappo's CHEATING LESSONS, this book is a study in shifting loyalties and murky ethics. Cappo adds Midwest, rust-belt culture with a light touch. Astute readers will catch Michigan references. A little slow to start, the book gathers steam and becomes a who-done-it of the finest order.… (mer)