The Poker Game - Wallace Tom

Judge Leonard Kurtz presides over a Saturday-night poker game fifty weeks each year. 

But this is no ordinary game—it begins at precisely seven p.m. and lasts exactly twelve hours, 

and to sit at the table, each of the six players must have ten-thousand dollars in cash. But then, on 

a warm summer night, five players are brutally murdered, victims of a single gunshot wound to 

the head.

Veteran homicide detective Jack Dantzler is faced with the task of finding the person—or 

persons—responsible for the crime. His initial questions are, which of the victims was the 

primary target, and what is the name of the missing player? Was that player lucky, or could he be 

the killer?

As Dantzler begins to peel away the many layers of this baffling case, the answers he 

finds are not what he expected. They put him on several different paths, including one that will 

bring him face to face with the only murderer he has failed to catch.

The Poker Game proves once again why critics have consistently praised Tom Wallace 

for his ability to “make his characters come alive,” while adding that he has done “a great job of 

creating a world-class detective in Dantzler.”

Simply put: The Poker Game belongs on your must-read list.