Unstable, unreliable, not working properly; strange, suspect, questionable, dishonest; nervous, uneasy.
But the man who left the tissue sample doesn't quite fit the crime. There's something hinky about him, as they say in books like this. There is also something hinky about Rebecca's bedroom, her old school friends, the racists who may have zeroed in on her as a target and even the restaurant in Malibu where she worked as a waitress.
Janet Maslin, The New York Times, 16 May 2005, New York Times
reviewing Michael Connelly's The Closers. Amazon
"There was just something about the driver and the way he looked at them that made them think that he was hinky, and there was something suspicious about him," LePard told a news conference.
Maurice Bridge, Vancouver Sun, 9 September 2006. Vancouver Sun
Of course, low attendance could be attributed to April and May being traditionally slow months at the turnstiles because of school and hinky weather.
Claire Smith, The New York Times, 6 May1995.
New York Times
But it takes the investigating detective (so idealized he qualifies as one of those distractions) about five minutes to spot that ''something's hinky'' about this picture.
Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times, 21 February 1999. The New York Times
The dishwasher had to go hinky, flooding the kitchen floor.