Hollywood stand-up comedian turned amateur sleuth Biff Kincaid is called at the last minute to headline a comedy club inside a sprawling resort on the Las Vegas Strip. He's thinking big laughs and good times are all that's in store when he boards the next plane to Sin CIty. He has no idea that the real gig won't be just headlining a showroom - it's solving a murder.
It turns out he's filling in for his friend and fellow comic Tiger Moore. Tiger was stabbed by a mysterious killer who left a message written on the wall, one that sends chills down the spine of every comedian: Get off the stage, it reads. You suck.
The Heckler has claimed his first victim.
Biff follows the trail of clues that lead to Louie Baxter, network television's newest sitcom star (and hardest living party boy). He tells Biff he thinks he knows who the Heckler is: A novice comedian beaten into a coma years ago by a hostile audience after a hell gig at a remote location. Louie had given the man up for dead, but if he's back it's to get revenge on the other comedians who stood by while he was tortured. Tiger was one of them. So was Louie.
Now Louie fears for his life, and begs Biff to track down the Heckler and try to stop him. Biff follows the clues left by a mysterious mix of mob justice, a corrupt country sheriff, tabloid headlines, and the deadly family secret that guards the Heckler's true identity.
Heckler is the latest mystery from author Dan Barton, himself a veteran of the Hollywood comedy scene. Biff Kincaid was introduced in his debut adventure Killer Material and follow-up novella Dummy.
