[.ca] The Last Hand: A Charlie Salter Mystery (ISBN 0888822391)

Amazon.ca:
As high-profile Toronto cop Charlie Salter heads toward the mandatory retirement age of 60, four-time Arthur Ellis Award-winning author Eric Wright wraps up his most famous literary creation's career--10 police procedurals strong--in The Last Hand. Frustrated by the glorified receptionist's job he's stuck in for his last months on the force, Salter leaps at the opportunity to reopen the stale murder case of Jerry Lucas, the lawyer brother of a prominent politician, whose last known visitor was a prostitute decked out in suggestive silver boots. The deeper he digs, the surer Salter becomes that there were fewer kinks in the victim's sex life than in his legal practice--and in the professional lives of his poker buddies. Even though he's determined to prove that he's not yet washed up, the distractions of family and impending retirement slow down Salter's progress on the case. It doesn't help that his wife has taken off to be with her family in Prince Edward Island, where their eldest son has just produced a grandchild and is running a family business, or that their younger son is making plans to leave home. Salter's self-confidence is revived, however, when he's dealt a flush of inspiration during a card game, making it possible for him to solve his case while resolving his personal anxieties. --Deirdre Hanna