Archy McNally, Sanders' "raffish combination of Dashiell Hammett's Nick Charles and P.G. Wodehouse's Bertie Wooster" (The New York Times), returns in another tale of love and larceny among the wealthy denizens of south Florida. When a well-to-do widow is urged to buy a Faberge Imperial egg, her adult offspring violently oppose the investment and enlist Archy to put the kibosh of the deal.

from penguinputnam.com

Archy McNally, the hero of Lawrence Sander's latest whodunit McNally's Gamble is a throwback to an earlier, more gracious age. He lives well, dresses well, and keeps hours that Dashiell Hammet's "Thin Man," Nick Charles, would approve of. When not wining, dining, or driving his fire-engine red Miata around Palm Beach, Archy keeps discreet tabs on the wealthy clients of his father's law firm. Then one day, Edythe Westmore, a well-to-do widow, considers buying a Fabergé Imperial Egg and all hell breaks loose. Her children are displeased, her lawyer (Archy's father) is concerned, and Archy is up to his neck in intrigue. Sanders writes a serviceable mystery, but the real pleasure in McNally's Gamble is Archy. Imagine Bertie Wooster as a detective, or Lord Peter Wimsey a Floridian, and you'll have some idea of Archy. Though he describes himself as "a frivolous scatterbrain," he has enough discipline to solve the case and, by the end, land the girl, as well.

Synopsis: Now, Lawrence Sanders's most popular character, playboy sleuth Archy McNally, returns in an enticing new novel of sun and sin in Palm Springs--where the rich count their schemes before they're hatched. Well-to-do widow Edythe Westmore has announced her intent to invest a large part of her fortune in a Faberge Imperial egg. Horrified, her children argue against the financial risk--and enlist Archy's services to put the kibosh on the deal. But when the sleuth sticks his nose in the widow's business, the whole case begins to smell like a rotten egg, but much harder to crack.

from amazon.com