Ringer / /Brian M. Wiprud / 338 pages / R. T. Reviewer's Choice Award

Morty Martinez is a member of La Paz (Mexico) gentry on a religious quest in New York.  He was sent to recover the ring of Hernando Martinez de Salvaterra, a conquistador whose mummified finger and ring were kept in a reliquary in the orphanage chapel.  The ring was stolen rings ago.  He is mistaken for a hit man hired to eradicate Robert Tyson Grant's problematic step-daughter, Purity.  The book begins with letters discussing rights to the movie version of the book recounted by Marty, with cinematic directives, as he is awaiting execution by firing squad.  This book has something for everyone, and it's tongue-in-cheek humor and misquotes attributed to Abraham Lincoln are the icing on the cake.