Titolo del libro:  Dead Money ←

L’avvocato penalista Mark Newcomb partecipa a un torneo milionario di Texas Hold’em. Quando Shooter Deukart, legenda del poker, viene trovato morto, Mark si trova insieme ai suoi compagni di gioco in cima alle liste dei sospetti della polizia. Con la polizia che indaga e un milione di dollari da vincere, Mark si difende senza mai perdere di vista il premio. ”Rudy Stegemoeller ha distribuito una grande mano! Dead Money è scritto con umorismo, suspense e l’amore per il gioco.”

Recensione Amazon: Stegemoeller taps into his lawyering and poker-playing experience to deliver this enjoyable whodunit. Mark Newcomb is a defense attorney with a conscience but also a gambler’s itch. When a local million-dollar Texas Hold ‘Em tournament beckons, his NYPD wife reluctantly lets him go, which she soon regrets when key poker players start turning up dead. Mark is right in the middle of it all, of course, as he is the one to discover the first body. He figures his natural instincts as a defense attorney would be anathema to the local cops investigating the murders, but instead the lead detective befriends Mark and makes him an unofficial partner. All the while, the tournament unfolds, and rather than rest during breaks in the action, Mark turns sleuth. A cast of quirky characters–some shady, and all with their own secrets–a sympathetic hero, plenty of poker action, and an ending that doesn’t fall prey to cliches add to a solid debut and the promise of an entertaining series.

This first novel by Rudy Stegemoeller is a fast-paced murder mystery that takes place at a poker tournament. From the first page it is clear that Stegemoeller is intimately familiar with the inside of a casino; perhaps he has some adolescent memories of one. The action alternates between the poker table and the police investigation, with occasional forays into poker strategy and Buddhist philosophy.

His wide cast of characters, from the middle-aged waitresses to the big-shot players, are briskly realistic. Like an Agatha Christie mystery, relationships between them unfold as the tale progresses, with a surprise in every chapter. Even so, there are a few twists that the Dame never used.

By reading this book you can not only learn the rules of Texas Hold-em, but whether to stay or fold if you are holding an ace-jack on the button of a $10,000 blind hand against a professional who is temporarily down on his luck but has just bet the limit on the flop.