JACK SAVAGE, DETECTIVE -- As Soft-Boiled as They Come. Roger Collier is a failed poet, failed painter, and failing sculptor. But that's not the worst of his troubles... When he's found dead in his Pebble Beach home--dispatched by a well-played five iron--the police say the killer is a pretty blonde model. Jack Savage suspects that it was one of the four critics who wrote blistering reviews of Collier's work, and then discovered new levels of hell when he repaid them with "getting even" tactics. As he pursues his hunch, Jack finds himself victimized by a psychotic stalker who subjects him to the same tactics, then kidnaps his unruly dog. The trouble is, all four of the critics have iron-clad alibis, and Jack is not so sure he wants the dog back...