The accomplice

The Accomplice is a sad, touching, wonderful, funny, beautifully plotted novel, throbbing with life. Beef Buddusky is a big dumb drifter looking for a home. Mae is a barmaid who has plenty to offer, but Ginny Wynn is the sexy lady who takes him in, after he washes her windows. Gordon Wynn, her son, is a policeman with a crewcut, an unlikely mama's boy. Mrs. Listeir is a very old lady with a bamboo cane. Maria Wynn is the bullseye for mama's murder plot, a pretty Chicana pregnant with Gordie's baby. Rudy Montalvo is a fry cook who quit to become a fulltime felon. Danny the Goose Yanez is his tagalong. Ralph Ferguson is a D. A. with suspenders who'd prosecute his own mother. There you have the leading characters in Darryl Ponicsan's new novel. Plus oceans of love and millions of mother's kisses and hatred so deep it can kill.