The Smart One

Dink Stapleton is a two-bit hoodlum who lives in Wapakoneta, Ohio. All he wants to do is keep his nose clean and fly under the radar - something that's easier said than done. His less-smart half-brother keeps trying to suck him into a plan to counterfeit twenty dollar bills. He has run afoul of a local wannabe crime figure. And his employer wants him to track down a scandalous painting by a local artist.

Unfortunately, Dink's boss isn't the only one who wants the painting. There's the stripper who posed for the painting; the loose cannon who is obsessed with the stripper; and the pretentious comic book illustrator turned pretentious artist who created the painting to begin with.

Complicating matters are ten-grand worth of funny twenties that have gone walkabout, a missing car with the world's worst paint job, and a girlfriend who wants him to find Jesus. It's a lot to wade through if Dink is going to find the painting and figure out who gets it, but he should be able to work it out. After all, he's the smart one.

The Smart One is vintage Faust, filled with wry humor, quirky characters, crackling dialogue, and a plot that keeps the pages turning.