TOOTH, INJUSTICE, AND THE BANYON WAY

When the Tooth Fairy goes MIA, his insurance agency hires Crag Banyon to find the dental delinquent. Madison Insurance Equities has never paid out a claim in its hundred-year history, and it's not about to start now. Not to mention that a class action lawsuit from a world full of crying kids with bupkis under their pillows could put the venerable company out of business.

It turns out Mr. Fairy has run afoul of a mysterious "queen," whose threatening notes have sent the simply fabulous sprite with the million-dollar smile into hiding. But who is this queen, and why does it seem like someone is making good on Shakespeare's most sensible suggestion to bump off every ambulance chaser in the tri-city area?

Banyon doesn't have to drill too deep to find out the rot goes all the way to the root. And in a city already filled with decay, the authorities would be happy just to brush this one aside.

Four out of five dentists agree that in this case the biggest cavity could wind up being a lead-filled one in the middle of a certain luckless P.I.'s chest.

SWISH, SPIT, REPEAT