In this novel, the first in The Fairlington Lavender Detective Series, S.N. Bronstein's main character is Fairlington Lavender, a retired cop who is working as a private investigator.

Lavender is an enigma. He is often arrogant, sometimes foul mouthed, and always devious and unconventional as he meticulously works toward solving a case. Yet, when Lavender suspects that a politically connected, wealthy, entrepreneur, Mr. Kendall Somers murdered an eighteen year old girl, Lavender's insights into the dynamics of psychology, sociology, and social psychology become apparent. He advances into the lives of his antagonists like a philosopher-gumshoe.

His friend Al; Sherry, his former supervisor at the police department; the reprobate Dean Powell; and Somers all become witnesses to Lavender's ability to intersect inductive reasoning, instinct, and old school detective work into the effort to solve a murder. Along with these traits, Lavender adds the additional ingredient of a total disregard for the procedural limitations that restrain his peers at the police department.

The Case of the Miami Philanthropist

is a great diversion for a rainy day that affords the reader a fast moving detective story, written in a unique style unlike most conventional thrillers. The book will be hard to put down. It's a page turner from the minute Lavender meets Al and Powell at the county jail, until the murderer is finally apprehended.