The eighth book of The Drifter
Detective Series is split into two parts. As Two-Trick Pony by Garnett
Elliot opens, it is 1948 in the Texas panhandle. Jack Laramie has to listen to
nonsense from some trucker as the miles of Route 66 pass by. The Desoto broke
down on his way to Amarillo so he was forced to hitchhike and that resulted in
his riding with the trucker who sees Commies everywhere. Jack Laramie saw far
worse than Commies when he served during WWII and is well aware this guy is an
idiot. Using the gun he has with him that was once carried by his legendary grandfather
would be a bad idea and not just because to do so would disrespect the weapon.
Newly minted private
detective Jack Laramie is on the way to Amarillo on behalf of his boss, Hobart
Jones, an insurance investigator down in Dallas. All he knows is he is supposed
to see a Mr. Adair about a horse. It isn’t a case Laramie is going to want
either after he hears the man out, but he has been paid and the job has to be
done.
Part Two picks up 11
years later in Dallas where Jack Laramie has given up the lure of the open road
for a shabby office in the Wilson Building near Commerce Street. Despite what
had happened with members of the local mob three years earlier, Laramie had
come back and opened his office. At least the Montmartre Club is within walking
distance.
He has become a
regular. One of the entertainer’s tonight is new in town. She is also a woman
he knew in another time and in another place. She was trouble then over in
Longview. No doubt she is trouble now. He has unfinished business with her. He
isn’t the only one.
The grandson of legendary
US Marshal Cash Laramie first appeared in The
Drifter Detective. He continues on here in Two-Trick Pony. Every
installment gives readers a strong taste of noir style crime fiction and this two-part
read is no exception. Drive by nightmares from his past, Jack Laramie is a
loner looking for peace in a bottle and justice at the end of a gun. Whether he
finally found it is open to interpretation. This reader hopes the search is not
over.
The series:
The
Drifter Detective
(Reviewed March 2013)
Hell
Up In Houston
(Reviewed September 2013)
The
Girls Of Bunker Pines
(Reviewed March 2014)
Wide
Spot In The Road
(Reviewed June 2014)
Dinero
Del Mar (Reviewed August
2014)
Between
Juarez and El Paso
(Reviewed September 2015)
Torn
And Frayed (Reviewed June 2016)
Two-Trick Pony: The Drifter Detective
Series No. 8
Garnett Elliott
Beat To A Pulp
October 2016
ASIN: B01M8I5H4J
eBook (also available in paperback)
99 Pages
$1.99
According to Amazon, I purchased this back last December.
While it does not say how I made the purchase, I took advantage of a free read
promotion or I used funds in my Amazon Associate account.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2017
Thanks for reviewing this one, Kevin.
ReplyDeleteThank you for writing it. :)
ReplyDelete