.45 Caliber Perfume

A wildly funny noir masterpiece by Leo Banks, the author of DOUBLE WIDE, a Western Writers of America double Spur award winner for Best First Novel and Best Contemporary Western… and True West Magazine's Best Western Crime Novel of the Year.
Arizona businessman Henry Belmont’s senate campaign is looking good. The cash contributions are rolling in and Mary Rose Cleary, his sexy, young campaign manager and mistress, is happy to handle the flow, as long as she can secretly pocket her cut. Complicating the picture is Henry’s conniving wife Barbara, a fading beauty with a secret criminal past and a deadly agenda. But Mary and Barbara share more than a bed with handsome Henry. They both love guns, money and sex...and know how to use them to get what they want. Now, in the brutal heat of a Phoenix summer, the lives of this scheming trio will collide in a violent explosion of betrayal, greed and murder.
Praise for Leo W. Banks
".45-Caliber Perfume, combines murder and greed with a hefty does of dark humor. There is plenty for noir fans to savor, but Banks livens everything with frequent and surprising humor. This is most evident in the dialog, but also finds its way into the description of the settings. It’s a risky mixture – but Banks pulls it off with a deft touch." Bookgasm
"The writing flows easily, the dialogue is peppered with wry observations, the plot tightly braids its seemingly disparate strands into a fascinating pattern, and the characters zing with life. This intelligent, pleasurable western noir will have readers longing for more." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
"Great writing line to line, wonderful evocation of place, each sentence edged with grit and humor" James Sallis, author of Drive
"Banks writes skillfully and with deep love for the Arizona desert and his characters." NPR