Houston has been called “a sprawling city of astronauts and cowboys, in the middle of a swamp.” And now Jack Laramie, rural-wandering P.I., is headed up that way after his faithless DeSoto blows its radiator. Jack’s got a bit of a past with the city, in the form of a Cajun P.I. named Lameaux--a guy who mixes his “investigations” with organized vice. So Jack decides to lay low, holing up in a swanky downtown hotel called the Fulton. It’s a splurge after sleeping in an old horse trailer night after night, but Jack figures he deserves a break. Until the Fulton’s grizzled house detective shows up with a proposition … Jack’s way out of his league this time around, and when he discovers a blackmailing scheme involving a famous industrialist, he finds himself bumping gun-barrels with the Federal Government. Survival’s going to require throwing the P.I. code out the window. And some quick thinking. Join Cash Laramie’s hardluck grandson in this second installment of The Drifter Detective series, “Hell Up in Houston.” At around 15K words, it won’t take too long--just remember to bring your Colt.