BINO'S BLUES

We interrupt this Dallas police corruption trial—in which Rusty Benson's client, Capt. Terry Nolby, has just indicated that he'll roll over on Bino Phillips's client, Lt. Tommy Clinger—for a special announcement: Counselor Benson's Eldorado has just been fished out of the Houston shipping channel with his estranged wife Rhonda inside. Looks like Rusty's in for a tour, up close and personal, of the Houston penal facilities; looks like Bino's elected to handle the bail hearing; looks like a few nights in the cooler have Rusty ready to roll over himself and tell everything he knows—and maybe some stuff he doesn't—to the hungry federal prosecutors who can already taste those pan-fried Dallas bluecoats and the mysterious higher-ups who are pulling their strings and taking the cuts from their payoffs. All this matey dealmaking leaves Bino (Bino, 1988; Killings, 1993) odd man out, with nobody in his corner as he hunts the hit-man who killed Rhonda Benson (a federally protected witness, natch) but the nearsighted torch singer who picked him up—and even she's secretly a federal snitch. A fast-paced, fragrant, nothing-personal exposÇ that'll leave you wondering which is the lower form of life: those nasty feds or the mean-eyed morons employed to enforce the laws of the great state of Texas.