Mary Banks was an opportunist who was out to make money in any way she could. She and her workout partner, Thelma Ritter, worked their way into accommodating senators and other higher-ups for money, and also any information they could come across that would help them increase their income through blackmail, extortion, and other nefarious means. Employed at Wal-Mart, Mary believed the extra income she could earn would come in handy and enable her to continue to live the lifestyle she was growing accustomed to.

Her boyfriend, Andy Montana, worked at Valley Wide Distribution. One night he was found dead in his home. The death was unusual in that he was vacuum packed into a mattress lying on the floor. It was made to look like a suicide, but eventually the police decided it was murder.

Detective Milo Necalli of the Phoenix, Arizona police department’s Violent Crimes Bureau was assigned the case. As the body count rose and the case got more and more bizarre, Detective Necalli found himself tangling with corrupt senators, opportunistic blackmailers, corrupt Politian’s, and drug smugglers. He also found Valley Wide Distribution and its employees kept coming up during the investigation. Necalli and his team continued to work through the increasingly complicated case that threatened to place his own job on the line, until the surprise ending.

Causal Connection by W. C. Hatounian is one of the most interesting police procedurals I’ve read in quite some time. Mr. Hatounian is a retired Phoenix police lieutenant. Causal Connection is fast-paced and the unique, realistic characters bring this story alive. The sometimes complicated story line is fairly easy to follow because the author uses dates and times to go from one scene to the next. From start to finish, the author provides a riveting read that I literally could not put down. I ended up reading it in one day.

Milo Necalli, the lead detective, would make a great hero in further stories. Hopefully, the author will turn this book into a series. If you want a fast-paced police procedural that will keep you guessing, Causal Connection is the one to read.

The author has also written a book titled Tank Witch with other-worldly overtones that make use of the author’s past experience serving in Vietnam and the Phoenix area army National Guard.

A special thank you goes to W. C. Hatounian for sending me a copy of this interesting detective story. If you are interested in purchasing a copy, it is available at Amazon.com.