THE MAN IN THE BLIZZARD by Bart Schneider

Publisher Shaye Areheart Books/Crown, August 2008

In the dog days of summer, just as the Republican National Convention comes to town, private investigator Augie Boyer learns how far a fringe political group will go to force their agenda. A rollicking topical novel for this or any political season.

Pothead private eye Augie Boyer is out of sorts. He's been smoking too much Ponchartrain Pootie and scarfing down an excess of fried food. He can't stop thinking of his therapist wife, who left him for another therapist, and despite the best efforts of his new girlfriend, Erica, Augie's testosterone levels have sunk lower than the winter temperatures of Minneapolis.
One day, a beautiful, blond violinist with multiple personalities walks into Augie's office. She draws him into a complex case that involves Neo-Nazi violin collectors, mind control specialists, and a mass of anti-abortion activists, who've come to the Twin Cities for a huge rally to coincide with the Republican National Convention.
When Augie uncovers a plot to kill three abortion doctors in connection with the rally, he needs all the help he can get. Detective Bobby Sabbatini of the St. Paul Police Department, a rabid poetry evangelist, and Agent Francis Synge, a charming, black-Irish, master of code are by his side, along with his assistant Blossom, a spike-haired ex-con. But when Augie’s only child, the radical singer-songwriter Minnesota Rose arrives to sing at a protest rally, he realizes how dangerously close to him the threat has come.
Bart Schneider delivers a politically charged novel imbued with great wit and warmth.