Skinflick

Dave Brandstetter has gone into business for himself. After his father died, the inheritance he received financed an independent insurance investigation firm, and it focuses on deaths that look wrong. His first assignment could blow up in his face if he is not careful. Gerald Dawson, a fiery evangelist, argues that devout faith and brutality belong together. He has appointed himself a vigilante to purge the seedy district near his church, raiding adult bookstores and bullying their proprietors. Gerald is later found dead with his neck broken. The police blame Lon Tooker, a dealer in dirty pictures, but Dave does not accept their conclusion. Looking into the preacher's activities after dark, he uncovers a string of hidden transgressions.

Skinflick is the fifth novel in the Dave Brandstetter Mystery series. The earlier volumes are Troublemaker and The Man Everybody Was Afraid Of.