Serious as a Heart Attack : A Novel

Hired to track down the stripper girlfriend of a wealthy acquaintance, Queenie Sells finds herself accused of the woman's murder and is targeted by the actual killer in her investigations at such locations as Coney Island and the Waldorf-Astoria, where she meets a host of colourful characters.

In a gritty thriller from the acclaimed author whom William Vollmann called "a real storyteller," a street-smart young woman takes what looks like an easy job and ends up having to solve a murder case--before the next body that turns up is her own.Queenie Sells is having what she thinks is a good day. After getting fired from her job at a calendar company for botching Daylight savings, she is informally hired by a wealthy acquaintance to track down his girlfriend, a stripper named Trigger Happy. But Queenie''s seemingly good luck turns hard when she finds Trigger dead in her apartment.Now Queenie''s daily routine of being a drunk smartass is put on hold as she becomes both a suspect for the murder and the target for an unknown predator. Hopping from bar to bar, from Coney Island clam stands to the Waldorf Astoria, she inadvertently lands on the trail of Trigger''s killer and puts herself in the line of fire.