Timothy
Hallinan has given the mystery reading world three distinctly different and
very good series. The first is about Simeon Grist, a private investigator in
Los Angeles, the second is set in Bangkok where Hallinan lives part time, and
the third returns to Los Angeles, home of Junior Bender, a professional thief
and occasional private investigator.
Fields Where
They Lay
(Soho, 2016), Junior’s sixth adventure, finds him in thrall to a member of the
Los Angeles underworld, as he is so often. A Russian mobster with the unlikely
name of Tip Poindexter is the sole owner of a rundown shopping mall in suburban
Los Angeles. He decides it takes a thief to catch a thief so he strongarms
Junior into determining who is responsible for the rampant shoplifting in his
mall. The monthly loss reports are staggering but the store owners have not identified
a single bandit or a group of thieves.
When Junior
discusses security measures with each shop owner, he learns that most of them
do not expect to stay open after the holiday rush. Several storefronts are
already vacant and Junior is struck by how worn the facility appears, despite
the throng of shoppers intent on spending their money. Among the vacancies is
the only major department store that closed at the end of the previous holiday
season. The loss of the anchor tenant pushed the mall even closer to the brink
of failure.
While Junior
is looking for mall exits that are not under surveillance of the security
cameras, which is how he assumes the loot is leaving, he examines the dark
upper floors of the shuttered department store and stumbles on the body of one
of the shop owners. He has no alternative but to call the police, the last
thing Poindexter or Junior wants. In no time Junior’s assignment expands to
finding the killer.
The fading of
the shopping mall phenomenon is captured perfectly here, as is the hollow
desperation of the holiday commercial frenzy. The operational side of a mall is
explored, similar to Silvermeadow by Barry Maitland (Orion Publishing, 2000),
the reader is taken behind the scenes to regions not usually thought of by bargain
hunters. Junior’s cynicism is always front and center but never quite
overwhelms his essential humanity, which is the nicest thing about him. Junior’s
ex-wife and only child occupy a lot of his focus in every book; this time
Junior has also acquired a girlfriend. It’s easy to forget about the mystery
while Junior’s personal life and his trenchant observations about the season’s
consumerism are so entertaining but Junior gets to the bottom of both the
murder and the shoplifting in a thoroughly unexpected manner.
Starred
reviews from Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, Booklist, and Library
Journal. A Kirkus Best Book of 2016 and a Publishers
Weekly Best Book of 2016.
·
Publisher: Soho Crime; First Edition
(October 25, 2016)
·
Language: English
·
Hardcover: 384 pages
·
ISBN-10: 1616957468
·
ISBN-13: 978-1616957469
Amazon
Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4gnc09X
Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2024
Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.
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