Almost immediately Bump and Terry hit it off and Bump sets Terry and Danny up with a better place to live and helps Terry restart his construction business. Terry is trying to stay on the straight and narrow by avoiding drugs, not drinking and working hard. He can’t believe his good fortune of falling in with an okay bunch of guys who also happen to think he’s okay.

When the Witness, another delivery driver, is found in the back parking lot with his throat slashed, the police immediately turn their suspicions to Terry. None of his co-workers share the cops’ sentiments. Even though he is working long hours, Terry begins to wonder about Witness’s murder, and whether or not it has any connection to an accident that caused a Carlos driver to lose her job, and whether Carlos’s newest driver might be next.

Cold Slice is full of enjoyable characters. From Terry who is trying to walk the straight and narrow, but knows he still has issues, to Bump who can get you whatever you need (even an attorney) wholesale, to Gruf, the night manager who feels a responsibility to watch out for his entire crew, but is able to weed out the slackers that make his life not as easy as he’d like it.

The murder is committed and then put on the back burner for a while while more of Terry’s life falls into place. The suspects are limited and no one seems to have a motive, though the victim is presented as being off and the police aren’t quite willing to write the murder off as a robbery. Terry and his new gang do a bit of astute sleuthing, but the end is a bit anti-climactic and thus the suspense a bit light.

All in all though, this is a great introduction to a bunch of fun guys who will be enjoyable to visit again.

--Jennifer Monahan Winberry