Billed as the seventh mystery in the CJ Floyd series, The Mongoose Deception reveals itself to be more of a crime novel or conspiracy thriller than a traditional whodunit. Floyd doesn’t make his first appearance until page seventy-seven, by which time the reader has become quite intimate with Louisiana delinquent Antoine Ducane and a slew of 1963-vintage mafia figures from around the country who are busy executing a conspiracy to assassinate JFK.

Floyd, who earns his living through the unlikely combination of bail bondsman services and antiques dealing, gets pulled into these decades-old events through his antiques partner and former mafia kingpin, Mario Santoni, who fears that he’s being served up by his mafia brethren as a fall-guy for the assassination. The mafia guys, some of whom are retired octogenarians yet still retain their violent tendencies, are running scared now that the long-interred body of patsy Antoine Ducane has been unearthed from a Colorado tunnel.

In addition to juggling a large cast of mafia dons, hit men, and other shadowy figures (including an enigmatic JFK conspiracy investigator), Robert Greer ambitiously layers in subplots involving Ducane’s mother and former girlfriend as well as an earnest young basketball star and his defense lawyer mom. Greer writes well and succeeds in constructing an intersecting plot of epic proportions, but I found myself bogged down by minutia and dialogue that often failed to advance the story. The multitude of mafia guys also tended to blur together, as many were given only bit parts and few were bestowed with distinguishing character traits. I also felt as if the novel lacked a compelling central character; neither Floyd nor any of his cohorts were given enough stage time to forge a strong bond with me.

Robert Greer possesses talent and an interesting protagonist. In my view, future CJ Floyd offerings would benefit from a more focused, Floyd-centric structure. ( )