Jerry's House of Everything: FORGOTTEN BOOK: TWELVE AMERICAN DETECTIVE STORIES

Jerry's House of Everything: FORGOTTEN BOOK: TWELVE AMERICAN DETECTIVE STORIES:   Twelve American Detective Stories , edited by Edward D. Hoch  (1997) A dozen detective stories that actually involve detection...a rarity ...

Beneath the Stains of Time: Murder's a Must: My Top 5 Favorite Detective Novel...

Beneath the Stains of Time: Murder's a Must: My Top 5 Favorite Detective Novel...: There are prolific writers and then you have John Russell Fearn . An astoundingly productive genre writer with a fertile imagination, pro...

Jungle Red Writers: Mason and Poirot and Holmes, oh my!

Jungle Red Writers: Mason and Poirot and Holmes, oh my!: --> HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: If you don't know Jon Land , it's probably because you can't catch up with him. The ma...

Michael Pool: 5 timeless hard-boiled detectives that mystery readers love

Michael Pool: 5 timeless hard-boiled detectives that mystery readers love

Interview: Christopher Fowler

Interview: Christopher Fowler

FFB Review: "Dead Even: A River City Crime Anthology" by Frank Zafiro

Since it is Friday again that means it is time for Friday’s Forgotten Books hosted by Patti Abbott. Not only should you be reading her blog, you should be reading her works such as the soon to be released Concrete Angel. You should also be reading author Frank Zafiro---especially if you like police procedurals. The below review dates back to 2011 when I first told you about Dead Even: A River City Crime Anthology …

The men and woman of the fictional River City police department located somewhere in Eastern Washington are not super cops. They are real life human beings with their own lives on and off the job. Lives that contain hopes, dreams, shattered expectations, and failure just like the rest of us. Through novels that began with Under A Raging Moon, continued with Heroes Often Fail and continued in the most recent Beneath A Weeping Sky released last March, as well as numerous stories in a variety of markets, author Frank Zafiro has a consistently used his experiences as well as ones of other fellow police officers to make the characters he writes about alive for the reader.

The fifteen stories in this book released last October by Gray Dog Press have all appeared before either online in various venues or in print publication. Several of these stories were finalists for the Derringer award given out annually by the Short Mystery Fiction Society.  For those familiar with the novels, these stories further explore events before or in between the books. For readers new to the works of Frank Zafiro, these stories give you a glimpse of the treats to come in the novels.

The anthology is broken into four sections named for some of the characters in the novels. After a forward that briefly explains how the book was pulled together and his intentions, author Frank Zafiro starts off with the section on “Katie MacLeod.” The three stories, “Last Day In Paradise, “Three Days of Christmas,” and “Home for Christmas” revolve around Katie Macleod and are far after events in the first two novels. They showcase some of the motivations that drive this complex and intriguing character as well as several different cases.

The section on the detective tag team of “Finch and Elias” is next starting on page 55. There are five stories here and include “Be My Santa Baby,” “Finch and Elias,” “Core Issue,” “The Bastard Mummy” and “The Worst Door.”  Along with working some harsh and some funny cases, readers are treated to the dynamics between the detectives who may grate on each other occasionally but always have the partner’s back. These stories are interlocked, beginning with a robbery gone bad in “Be My Santa Baby” and carry the crimes forward to solving the case and the repercussions in successive stories. Many of the stories in this anthology work the same way detailing events from different perspectives and how the ripples from the original event spread outwards to touch other lives in ways unforeseen.

Beginning on page 155 is the section on “Paul Heiro” and features two stories titled “Running Into Darkness” and “If Only.” Paul Heiro is one of several rather tragic figures in the River City series. A strong theme of Mr. Zafiro’s work is the idea that events shape people causing some to get stronger while others go down. That path, up or down, is almost predetermined or fate for some characters and Paul Heiro seems to be one of those destined to go down.

It is not just the men and women who wear the badge that get the full character building treatment making them come alive for the reader. The victims as well as the criminals come fully alive for readers. One of the higher profile criminals, and there are several, is “Dominic Bracco” and his section begins on page 175.

The section contains five stories titled “The Meat-cutter’s Wife,” “Pride Goeth,” “And A Fall Cometh,” “Rescuing Isaac” and the title story of the anthology “Dead Even.” A New Jersey mobster exiled to River City in eastern Washington, Dominic Bracco is trying to get along with everyone while bringing his own business style to the area. The problem for him is he doesn't have the muscle to compete; he can't go against the Russian mob, or the other criminal interests in the area. And every now and then Uncle Angelo reaches out and wants something done and just can't get the basic fact that the state of Washington is not New Jersey. A dark figure that is also very smart and charming, his relationship with others is fascinating to watch---from a distance.

At 253 pages including publication notes for the stories and bio, this is a fast read. Many of the stories are very interconnected--not only with each other---but telling the same story from a different character's perspective. Violence and its descriptive depictions are present at times, but when they do appear, they are limited and not gratuitous. Instead of focusing on the carnage when it happens, as some authors do, Mr. Zafiro consistently focuses on the psychological aspects of events. How events work on the character of the individual, shape future actions, etc. Whether they be law enforcement or otherwise, how people hold up under expectations of others while dealing with events is a focus of these stories as well as the novels that feature the characters living their lives in the small town of River City.

Those new to the author's work will discover a terse writing style filled full with emotion and nuances in these stories. The characters will come alive with some you knew from the start heading on a path where things will not go well. The book can serve as a great introduction to the novels as characters are introduced through story as well as brief explanations at the beginning of the sections and the stories themselves.

For those well familiar with the novels, Dead Even: A River City Crime Anthology is a chance to read stories you may have missed on other venues and an opportunity to reacquaint with old friends. The latest River City novel titled And Every Man Has To Die is currently scheduled to be released in March by Gray Dog Press.

Dead Even: A River City Crime Anthology

Frank Zafiro

http://frankzafiro.com/

Gray Dog Press

http://graydogpress.com/

March 2010

ISBN# 978-1-936178-33-9

253 Pages

Paperback

$16.95
(Kindle version currently $2.99)

ARC supplied by the author in exchange for my objective review.

Kevin R. Tipple © 2011, 2015

FFB Review: "The Floating Lady Murder" by Daniel Stashower

Friday means Friday’s Forgotten Books and this week Barry is back with his review of The Floating Lady Murder by Daniel Stashower. After you read Barry’s review poke around here a bit reading some other stuff before heading over to Patti Abbott’s blog here and checking out today’s list of forgotten books.

THE FLOATING LADY MURDER (2000) by Daniel Stashower

Reviewed by Barry Ergang

An episode from the second season of Monk titled "Mr. Monk Goes to Mexico" contains a tantalizing premise for fans of impossible crime stories: a young skydiver plunges to his death, which is witnessed by his friends on the ground. An autopsy subsequently reveals that the fall didn't kill him; he drowned, apparently in mid-air.


        The episode's moments that dealt with Adrian Monk's obsessive-compulsive behavior were often hilarious, but as a mystery it was huge let-down for a couple of reasons. It didn't play fair with the viewer, and the solution was basically a "cheat" because it concerned events only Monk knew about.


        The Floating Lady Murder, the second in Daniel Stashower's series featuring Harry Houdini and his brother Dash Hardeen as detectives, employs a similar premise. It doesn't play entirely fair with the reader, but the solution doesn't cheat so it's not likely to disappoint him either.

        In 1898, Harry Houdini—except in his own mind—has not yet achieved the fame that would later make him known throughout America and abroad. His brother Dash, the story's narrator, though a somewhat accomplished performer himself, serves primarily as Harry's booking agent. Lately he's been unable to secure jobs for Harry and Harry's wife Bess, Houdini's on-stage assistant. Thus, when he reads that Harry Kellar, "the dean of American magicians," is hiring additional crew members for his troupe, Dash suggests that he, Harry and Bess apply. In his vanity, Harry balks at the notion until Dash and Bess persuade him of the wisdom of it.


        They are hired, and soon learn that Kellar is determined to debut his Floating Lady levitation when the touring company returns to New York City from Albany. The illusion was conceived years earlier by Kellar's mentor, The Wizard of Kalliffa (a.k.a. Duncan MacGregor). Levitation was common among magicians, but this one was to be spectacular in that the person levitated would float out over the stage and high above the audience. MacGregor's wife, assisting her husband by taking the role of the Floating Lady, fell to her death from a great height when the illusion failed. In tribute to the MacGregors, Kellar wants to perform the illusion on the twenty-fifth anniversary of Mrs. MacGregor's passing. He has only a matter of days to refine it. Working with the Great Man and his stage crew, Harry and Dash devise an effective means of doing so, receiving Kellar's ecstatic gratitude.


        The performance has every member of the troupe holding his breath as the beautiful Francesca Moore seemingly levitates high up into the theater's dome, "borne aloft by the hypnotic force of animal magnetism." The audience is enchanted. But then something goes horribly wrong, and Francesca Moore plummets seventy-two feet to her death.


        It seems a terrible accident until, during an autopsy, it's learned that Miss Moore's death resulted from drowning, apparently—and impossibly—in mid-air. When one of the stagehands, Jim Collins, is arrested for murder, Harry and Dash are determined to prove his innocence and uncover the real murderer. This they do when Kellar and a rival magician, Servais Le Roy, team up to perform the illusion once again, putting Bess and Harry's lives in peril.


        Stashower does an excellent job of bringing the era to life while serving up a well-paced story that's loaded with action, suspense, a great puzzle, and a lot of humor. Dash Hardeen is not a vacuous Watson who marvels at his brother's brilliance. He, in fact, is the brainier of the two. Harry provides the brawn, as well as unchecked egotism that spawns some wonderful comic moments.


        Recommended without reservations.



Barry Ergang ©2014

Derringer Award-winner Barry Ergang's fiction, poetry and non-fiction have appeared in numerous publications, print and electronic. Some of his work such as Stuffed Shirt, Dances of the Disaffected, and PUN-ishing Tales: The Stuff That Groans Are Made On are several titles among others available at Amazon and at Smashwords. Visit his website: http://www.writetrack.yolasite.com/

FFB Review: "Sorrow’s Anthem" by Michael Kortya

Long ago, before he went supernatural with his recent books, author Michael Kortya had an excellent series featuring private investigators Lincoln Perry and Joe Pritchard. If you have not read these books, you should.
 
You should also check out the rest of the suggestions for Friday's Forgotten Books over at Patti Abbot’s blog.

Building upon the series that began in Tonight, I Said Goodbye author Michael Koryta brings back private investigators Lincoln Perry and his partner, Joe Pritchard in another excellent read. This time around, Lincoln Perry is driven to help an estranged friend and it could cost him in ways he never saw coming.

Years ago when Lincoln was on the Cleveland Police Force he was put into a very difficult position. He could ignore his old friend’s criminal activities or he could work him like any other suspect. Lincoln chose not to prevent his childhood friend Ed Gradduk from going to jail. That decision severed a friendship, marked Lincoln as an outcast in his old neighborhood, and changed both lives forever.  With Ed in the news and on the run from charges of arson, murder, and others, Lincoln sees an opportunity to try once more to save his friend from himself as well as assuage his own guilt.

Minutes after finding him, Lincoln is powerless to save him as Ed dies in a confrontation with police.  But, just because he died does not mean the case is over.  It just means Lincoln feels even more guilt and now he has to deal with a grieving mother, former friends that hold him responsible and a trail that has few answers now that the man that could give them is dead.

As the bodies began to stack up and houses burn in the old neighborhood, Lincoln is forced to relieve a childhood that he thought he understood completely.  Decisions made decades ago have come back to haunt those alive today and it becomes a real question as to whom will survive the repercussions.

As he did in the first novel, the author weaves another complicated and compelling read.  The pace moves along steadily without a wasted word or thought as Lincoln works the case.  Back story sections are brief, to the point, and provide not only information, but rich character detail.  Such transitions are done well and do not serve as information dumps as routinely happens with lesser authors.

While this is second in the series, it certainly could be read independently as a stand alone.  There are brief references to the earlier novel but the information shared would not harm the enjoyment of that read.  This is another excellent novel from the author and does not fall prey to any of the normal second novel weaknesses.

Sorrow’s Anthem

Michael Koryta

Minotaur Books

www.minotaurbooks.com

ISBN#0-312-34010-9

Hardcover

320 Pages

Material supplied by the good folks of the Plano Public Library System.

Kevin R. Tipple © 2005, 2012

FFB Review: "The Floating Lady Murder" by Daniel Stashower reviewed by Barry Ergang

THE FLOATING LADY MURDER (2000) by Daniel Stashower

Reviewed by Barry Ergang

An episode from the second season of Monk titled "Mr. Monk Goes to Mexico" contains a tantalizing premise for fans of impossible crime stories: a young skydiver plunges to his death, which is witnessed by his friends on the ground. An autopsy subsequently reveals that the fall didn't kill him; he drowned, apparently in mid-air.

        The episode's moments that dealt with Adrian Monk's obsessive-compulsive behavior were often hilarious, but as a mystery it was huge let-down for a couple of reasons. It didn't play fair with the viewer, and the solution was basically a "cheat" because it concerned events only Monk knew about.

        The Floating Lady Murder, the second in Daniel Stashower's series featuring Harry Houdini and his brother Dash Hardeen as detectives, employs a similar premise. It doesn't play entirely fair with the reader, but the solution doesn't cheat so it's not likely to disappoint him either.




        In 1898, Harry Houdini—except in his own mind—has not yet achieved the fame that would later make him known throughout America and abroad. His brother Dash, the story's narrator, though a somewhat accomplished performer himself, serves primarily as Harry's booking agent. Lately he's been unable to secure jobs for Harry and Harry's wife Bess, Houdini's on-stage assistant. Thus, when he reads that Harry Kellar, "the dean of American magicians," is hiring additional crew members for his troupe, Dash suggests that he, Harry and Bess apply. In his vanity, Harry balks at the notion until Dash and Bess persuade him of the wisdom of it.

        They are hired, and soon learn that Kellar is determined to debut his Floating Lady levitation when the touring company returns to New York City from Albany. The illusion was conceived years earlier by Kellar's mentor, The Wizard of Kalliffa (a.k.a. Duncan MacGregor). Levitation was common among magicians, but this one was to be spectacular in that the person levitated would float out over the stage and high above the audience. MacGregor's wife, assisting her husband by taking the role of the Floating Lady, fell to her death from a great height when the illusion failed. In tribute to the MacGregors, Kellar wants to perform the illusion on the twenty-fifth anniversary of Mrs. MacGregor's passing. He has only a matter of days to refine it. Working with the Great Man and his stage crew, Harry and Dash devise an effective means of doing so, receiving Kellar's ecstatic gratitude.

        The performance has every member of the troupe holding his breath as the beautiful Francesca Moore seemingly levitates high up into the theater's dome, "borne aloft by the hypnotic force of animal magnetism." The audience is enchanted. But then something goes horribly wrong, and Francesca Moore plummets seventy-two feet to her death.

        It seems a terrible accident until, during an autopsy, it's learned that Miss Moore's death resulted from drowning, apparently—and impossibly—in mid-air. When one of the stagehands, Jim Collins, is arrested for murder, Harry and Dash are determined to prove his innocence and uncover the real murderer. This they do when Kellar and a rival magician, Servais Le Roy, team up to perform the illusion once again, putting Bess and Harry's lives in peril.

        Stashower does an excellent job of bringing the era to life while serving up a well-paced story that's loaded with action, suspense, a great puzzle, and a lot of humor. Dash Hardeen is not a vacuous Watson who marvels at his brother's brilliance. He, in fact, is the brainier of the two. Harry provides the brawn, as well as unchecked egotism that spawns some wonderful comic moments.

        Recommended without reservations.

Barry Ergang (c) 2011

**************

Barry Ergang's own impossible crime novelette, "The Play of Light and Shadow," is available for e-readers at Amazon and Smashwords, along with some of his other work, for a mere ninety-nine cents. Formerly the Managing Editor of Futures Mystery Anthology Magazine and First Senior Editor of Mysterical-E, winner of the Short Mystery Fiction Society’s Derringer Award for the best flash fiction story of 2006, his written work has appeared in numerous publications, print and electronic. For links to material available online, and fiction available for e-readers, see Barry’s webpages. 

Remember, too, that he has books from his personal collection for sale at http://barryergangbooksforsale.yolasite.com/ He'll contribute 20% of the purchase price of the books to our fund, so please have a look at his lists.

Review: "Back of Beyond" by C. J. Box

Cody Hoyt is your clichéd classic troubled cop on the edge.  Divorced, disgraced, alcoholic, with a reputation of being a cop with great investigative instincts but lots of issues,  Cody Hoyt is back home in Montana after everything blew up in Denver. These days he tries to stay sober while working as a detective in the Lewis and Clark County Sheriff’s Department.  On one rainy night, while aimlessly driving around as he does many a night, he is sent to a remote fire damaged cabin in the Big Belt Mountains where there just might be a body inside.

It has been raining for days and that is the only reason that part of the cabin still stands at all. Once Detective Cody Hoyt finally gets to the cabin and starts poking around, he realizes there is definitely a badly burned body in the cabin. The scene appears to be of a man who got drunk, passed out and accidentally burned to death. It could be as it appears and nothing more. The problem is the scene must be staged as far as Cody is concerned because the plane tickets found in the still standing bedroom indicate the badly charred body was that of a man named Hank Winters. Hank was Cody’s Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor and definitely did not drink. Hank was there to save Cody and was doing it--- just barely. Cody Hoyt knows for sure that without question Hank was not about to break his multiple years of sobriety for anything. As far as Cody is concerned, this was and is murder without question.

A view that others in the department do not share.  Especially Sheriff Tubman who is Cody’s boss and worried about reelection more than anything else.  With Cody’s well-earned reputation as a screw up, it comes down to Cody and a tenuous ally in the Department working the case.  A case that generates a trail of a serial killer and a desperate chase in Yellowstone National Park to save the life of Cody’s  teenage son.

C. J. Box also writes the much better Joe Pickett Game Warden Series. Unfortunately this stand alone book does not rise anywhere near to the level of those books. For seasoned readers, many of the characters will be amazingly clichéd and predicable despite the occasional attempt to throw in a twist or two. This creates a read that has the feel of something either written as a movie of the week type deal or to fill a contractual obligation.

The far weaker secondary storyline of the son and others on a multiday trip by horseback through the wilds of Yellowstone brings the main storyline to a dead halt for a number of chapters.  That is unfortunate as this happens when the main storyline has finally moved beyond utter clichéd characters and incredible predictability to something that held reader interest. It results in the reader waiting and waiting for the story to once again get going while time is wasted on many forgettable flat characters. Something that, once started, frequently happens throughout the novel as the reader is pulled back and forth between the main storyline and the secondary storyline to follow various characters. As the secondary and third level characters get picked off one by one, it can become an amusing game to guess which character must die next.

Standing on its own, "Back of Beyond" is barely an average book at best for the reasons noted above.  Compared to the quality books in the Joe Pickett series, this novel comes up far short and is a very disappointing read. While some readers will agree with the blurb, “a non-stop thrill ride” attributed to Harlan  Cohen, others will not and instead hope that C. J. Box gets back to the Joe Pickett series without further time wasting stand alone detours.

Back of Beyond: A Novel

C. J. Box

http://www.cjbox.net

Minotaur Books (St. Martin’s Press)

http://www.minotaurbooks.com

August, 2011

ISBN# 978-0312365745

ARC

Material supplied was an ARC from the Amazon Vine Program at my request. The book is currently available in print and in e-book.

This title is also available as a Macmillan Audio book. At a future date, a copy will be given away here. Contest entry details will soon be posted.

Kevin R. Tipple © 2011

Review: "Dead Even: A River City Crime Anthology" by Frank Zafiro

The men and woman of the fictional River City police department located somewhere in Eastern Washington are not super cops. They are real life human beings with their own lives on and off the job. Lives that contain hopes, dreams, shattered expectations, and failure just like the rest of us. Through novels that began with Under A Raging Moon, continued with Heroes Often Fail and continued in the most recent Beneath A Weeping Sky released last March, as well as numerous stories in a variety of markets, author Frank Zafiro has a consistently used his experiences as well as ones of other fellow police officers to make the characters he writes about alive for the reader.

The fifteen stories in this book released last October by Gray Dog Press have all appeared before either online in various venues or in print publication. Several of these stories were finalists for the Derringer award given out annually by the Short Mystery Fiction Society.  For those familiar with the novels, these stories further explore events before or in between the books. For readers new to the works of Frank Zafiro, these stories give you a glimpse of the treats to come in the novels.

The anthology is broken into four sections named for some of the characters in the novels. After a forward that briefly explains how the book was pulled together and his intentions, author Frank Zafiro starts off with the section on “Katie MacLeod.” The three stories, “Last Day In Paradise, “Three Days of Christmas,” and “Home for Christmas” revolve around Katie Macleod and are far after events in the first two novels. They showcase some of the motivations that drive this complex and intriguing character as well as several different cases.

The section on the detective tag team of “Finch and Elias” is next starting on page 55. There are five stories here and include “Be My Santa Baby,” “Finch and Elias,” “Core Issue,” “The Bastard Mummy” and “The Worst Door.”  Along with working some harsh and some funny cases, readers are treated to the dynamics between the detectives who may grate on each other occasionally but always have the partner’s back. These stories are interlocked, beginning with a robbery gone bad in “Be My Santa Baby” and carry the crimes forward to solving the case and the repercussions in successive stories. Many of the stories in this anthology work the same way detailing events from different perspectives and how the ripples from the original event spread outwards to touch other lives in ways unforeseen.

Beginning on page 155 is the section on “Paul Heiro” and features two stories titled “Running Into Darkness” and “If Only.” Paul Heiro is one of several rather tragic figures in the River City series. A strong theme of Mr. Zafiro’s work is the idea that events shape people causing some to get stronger while others go down. That path, up or down, is almost predetermined or fate for some characters and Paul Heiro seems to be one of those destined to go down.

It is not just the men and women who wear the badge that get the full character building treatment making them come alive for the reader. The victims as well as the criminals come fully alive for readers. One of the higher profile criminals, and there are several, is “Dominic Bracco” and his section begins on page 175.

The section contains five stories titled “The Meat-cutter’s Wife,” “Pride Goeth,” “And A Fall Cometh,” “Rescuing Isaac” and the title story of the anthology “Dead Even.” A New Jersey mobster exiled to River City in eastern Washington, Dominic Bracco is trying to get along with everyone while bringing his own business style to the area. The problem for him is he doesn't have the muscle to compete; he can't go against the Russian mob, or the other criminal interests in the area. And every now and then Uncle Angelo reaches out and wants something done and just can't get the basic fact that the state of Washington is not New Jersey. A dark figure that is also very smart and charming, his relationship with others is fascinating to watch---from a distance.

At 253 pages including publication notes for the stories and bio, this is a fast read. Many of the stories are very interconnected--not only with each other---but telling the same story from a different character's perspective. Violence and its descriptive depictions are present at times, but when they do appear, they are limited and not gratuitous. Instead of focusing on the carnage when it happens, as some authors do, Mr. Zafiro consistently focuses on the psychological aspects of events. How events work on the character of the individual, shape future actions, etc. Whether they be law enforcement or otherwise, how people hold up under expectations of others while dealing with events is a focus of these stories as well as the novels that feature the characters living their lives in the small town of River City.

Those new to the author's work will discover a terse writing style filled full with emotion and nuances in these stories. The characters will come alive with some you knew from the start heading on a path where things will not go well. The book can serve as a great introduction to the novels as characters are introduced through story as well as brief explanations at the beginning of the sections and the stories themselves.

For those well familiar with the novels, Dead Even: A River City Crime Anthology is a chance to read stories you may have missed on other venues and an opportunity to reacquaint with old friends. The latest River City novel titled And Every Man Has To Die is currently scheduled to be released in March by Gray Dog Press.

Dead Even: A River City Crime Anthology

Frank Zafiro

http://frankzafiro.com/

Gray Dog Press

http://graydogpress.com/

March 2010

ISBN# 978-1-936178-33-9

253 Pages

Paperback

$16.95
(Kindle version currently $2.99)

ARC supplied by the author in exchange for my objective review.

Kevin R. Tipple © 2011

Friday's Forgotten Books: "Hose Monkey" by Tony Spinosa

It is Friday once again and I happily return to what we primarily do here---review books. This week’s post is on a very good book you may never have heard of. Without further ado, I give you my review of Hose Monkey written by Tony Spinosa (Reed Farrel Coleman).




Mid February 2004 finds Long Island, New York cold and dreary. So too is the life of former NYPD Detective Joe Serpe. His life is a wreckage of shattered dreams and hopes. His fifteen year marriage has collapsed with no hope of reconciliation. His former partner committed suicide during a police corruption investigation that took both of their jobs and ended any chance of having a career in law enforcement. Then, there is his brother, Vinny, a firefighter who died running for his life as Tower One fell. Vinny had been the only one to stand by him while his life crumbled and it was Vinny who took him into his home where he had no other place to go but the streets. Vinny’s home became Joe Serpe’s with Vinny’s death and his voice still plays daily on the outgoing message on the phone answering machine. Joe Serpe’s existence has shrunk down to living as a ghost of his former self while he delivers home heating oil by day and drinks Vodka heavily each night.

Also dealing with loss is Bob Healy who lost his wife Mary to pancreatic cancer. His period of loss has been shorter, only six months, but it is just as painfully deep. He’s trying to adjust, not only to her loss, but to doing all the things she used to routinely take care of which includes getting the heating oil delivered. He also was the lead Internal Affairs Detective on Serpe’s case.

By coincidence or stroke of luck, Joe Serpe ends up making a delivery to Healy’s home. That visit rekindles bitterness between the two men as well as long unfinished business. At almost the same time a mentally handicapped coworker of Joe’s is killed. The local police figure it to be the work of gangs. Joe disagrees and before long Joe Serpe and Bob Healy are in contact and soon grudgingly working together to find justice for the dead while trying to bury their burdens from the past.

You may not have heard of Tony Spinosa. If you have heard of Reed Farrel Coleman the author who has a slew of awards for his Moe Prager series (Walking The Perfect Square and others)

then you will be interested in his pseudonym Tony Spinosa. This book is a far different book than the Moe Prager series though familiar themes are again present here.

Grittier in all aspects, this first novel in the Joe Serpe series features tough language, graphic violence and a man at the proverbial end of the line in many ways. Joe is just going through the motions of a bare existence that is empathetically painful for the reader. His depression and anger at the world fueled nightly by Vodka figuratively drips off of the pages in the first half of the book.

Guilt is a powerful motivator and Joe has plenty to feel guilty about. Love is a powerful motivator as well and that works on Joe almost as well as the guilt does. Once Joe begins to come alive as a human being again along with being an investigator, he becomes a threat to others. Readers quickly learn just how good a cop Joe was back in the day.

Written in a third person tough guy style far different than the Moe Prager series, this complex intriguing read blends plenty of mystery, violence, and the beginnings of a romance into a hard hitting story.


Hose Monkey
Tony Spinosa
http://www.tonyspinosa.com/
Bleak House Books (Big Earth Publishing)
http://www.bleakhousebooks.com/
2006
ISBN# 1-932557-18-0
Hardback
292 Pages
$23.95


My sincere thanks to the staff of the Irving Public Library in Irving, Texas who sent a copy of the book to my local library in Plano, Texas. Interlibrary loan is a wonderful thing.


Kevin R. Tipple © 2009, 2011

New Issue of Gumshoe

is now online at http://www.gumshoereview.com/