I checked this book out from the library because it is partly the basis for the current season of that I have been watching and enjoying onI checked this book out from the library because it is partly the basis for the current season of that I have been watching and enjoying on AMC. I have only read a handful of this great series but the more I read, the more I want to continue with them. The Sinister Pig was another good one in the Leaphorn and Chee series which takes place in the Navajo Nation in the American Southwest. This is a later book in the series: Leaphorn is retired, Jim Chee is a sergeant with the Navaho Tribal Police and Bernadette Manuelito has moved on to a position with the Border Patrol in the boot heel of New Mexico. The novel starts out with the murder of a well-dressed man who was found partly buried in a remote area of the Apache Reservation. Chee is put on the case but it soon gets taken over by the FBI. Meanwhile, in southern New Mexico, Manuelito stumbles upon some construction at the Tuttle ranch when she follows a truck and trailer that could have been carrying illegals. She takes some photos of the operation which raises some eyebrows by the ranch owner and her boss at the Border Patrol. So what has she stumbled onto and how is it related to the murder of the man 200 miles north of there? Turns out her life is in danger and because her friend and roommate is alarmed she calls Leaphorn to see what he thinks. Leaphorn uses his skills and love of old maps to come to a reason for what may be happening at the ranch. But will it be in time to save Bernie?
This one had some really well-developed characters including the owner of the Tuttle Ranch and his pilot who seemed to have a hidden agenda. Chee is also showing his feelings for Bernie and hopes to convince her to give up her Border Patrol job. And of course Leaphorn is the backbone of the story. I really enjoyed this one and even though it was a basis for part of the Dark Winds series, it was altered quite a bit for TV. I'm sure I'll be reading more of these....more
Another good entry in the Longmire series. I have been reading these in no particular order for the past few years ever since seeing the great TV seriAnother good entry in the Longmire series. I have been reading these in no particular order for the past few years ever since seeing the great TV series that was based on the books. This one is number four in the series and is one of the earlier novels that I missed reading up to this point. The story tells of a young Asian woman who is killed and left near a drainage culvert on the highway in Wyoming. The woman turns out to be Vietnamese which provides a lead-in to telling some of Walt's backstory from when he served in Vietnam. The novel switches between the present dealing with the dead Vietnamese woman to the past where Walt is a Marine MP in Vietnam trying to get to the bottom of an influx of drugs and the murder of a Vietnamese bar girl. So who killed the young Vietnamese woman? The leading suspect is a seven-foot-tall FBI (Fu**ing Big Indian) called Virgil White Buffalo who was living in the culvert where the body was dumped. But there is also a Vietnamese man who shows up in a local bar and claims to be the murdered girl's grandfather. And then there is a photo from the young girl's purse showing Walt when he was in Vietnam with the bar girl who was murdered there. So what is the connection and why was the girl murdered?
This was another fast-paced entry in the series where Walt and his crew are actively investigating a murder that could involve some of the locals. But the novel also focused on some troubling social issues including human trafficking and prostitution. Glad I finally got around to reading this one and I'll be looking forward to reading some of the later novels in this series that I have missed....more
Another fun outing from Hiaasen. The protagonist of this one is Jack Tagger who is stuck writing obituaries for a Florida daily newspaper after he insAnother fun outing from Hiaasen. The protagonist of this one is Jack Tagger who is stuck writing obituaries for a Florida daily newspaper after he insulted the owner of the paper. He longs to be back in the action writing more significant stories and when he gets assigned to write the obit for a former rock star, he may have what he has been looking for. Jimmy Stoma who once headed the band Jimmy and the Slut Puppies dies in a scuba "accident" but Tagger smells something fishy. Was it an accident or was he murdered? And if so, was his young widow behind it? The widow is an up and coming pop singer named Cleo Rio who has only one hit to her name but she is longing for more claiming that she and Jimmy were working together on a new album for her. But Jimmy's sister tends to disagree telling Jack that Cleo was not working with Jimmy. So what would her motivation be if she was responsible for Jimmy's death? And can Jack pull together a crime story that will give him a leg up in his newspaper career?
As usual I really enjoyed this novel from Hiaasen. This one focused on the newspaper business but it was also filled with a lot of trivia related to music and personalities dating back to the 60s. I admit the novel did seem somewhat dated. It was originally published in 2002 at the time when most newspapers in print were on the verge of being overtaken by the internet. It was also before online music was the norm and when CDs were still the standard for music. But it was definitely an enjoyable trip through Hiaasen's Florida. Hiaasen actually wrote a song along with Warren Zevon called which he attributes to Jimmy and the Slut Puppies. Good stuff! This is actually the last adult Hiaasen novel I had yet to read. But I am looking forward to his next one, Fever Beach which comes out next month (May 2025). Can't wait!...more
Every year I wait patiently for the new C. J. Box books to come out. When they do, I put them on the wait list at the library so I can read them as soEvery year I wait patiently for the new C. J. Box books to come out. When they do, I put them on the wait list at the library so I can read them as soon as possible. I have been a fan of Box for several years now and have read everything he has written including all of the exploits of the Wyoming Game Warden Joe Pickett as well as the Cassie Dewell novels. For the most part, I have enjoyed all of these although recently some of his novels have contained a little too much conservative politics. Battle Mountain was a real page-turner but it did include a rather heavy dose of political views.
This is the 25th novel in the Joe Pickett series. It picks up where the last novel, Three-Inch Teeth left off. Nate Romanowski, the ex-special operative and falconer is on the trail of Axel Soledad who ruthlessly killed Nate's wife. At the same time, Joe is recruited by the Wyoming Governor asking for help in finding his son-in-law who seems to have disappeared in the Wyoming Sierra Madre near Battle Mountain where he was working with an elk outfitter. While Nate and fellow falconer Geronimo Jones are on the trail of Soledad, Joe is also in the same area looking for the Governor's son-in-law who it turns out had already met up with the very violent Soledad and his group of recruits who are planning an attack on a group of high ranking military and political personages called the Centurians who are gathering at a remote ranch in Wyoming near Battle Mountain. So will Nate and Geronimo be able to stop Soledad and get justice?
I enjoyed this one overall. It was full of action but was mostly a story about Nate with Joe playing somewhat of a secondary role. As I said, it did have some definite political points of view including a very negative view of the military commanders and the FBI. I would recommend this one but I do wish that Box would stay within the bounds of his earlier novels and leave the politics out of his stories....more
I first became interested in Emile Zola after seeing the 1937 movie in high school. The film starred Paul Muni as the FrencI first became interested in Emile Zola after seeing the 1937 movie in high school. The film starred Paul Muni as the French author and was set in the mid through late 19th century, depicting Zola's early friendship with Post-Impressionist painter Paul Cézanne and his rise to fame through his prolific writing. It also explores his involvement late in the . I enjoyed this movie and it was one that stuck with me over the years. Since then, I have read several of Zola's works including Nana, Therese Raquin, L'Assommoir, and Germinal. I thought all of these novels were excellent showing life in 19th century France from the point of view of Zola's naturalistic writing. [image] La Bête Humaine was the 17th novel in Zola's series Les Rougons-Macquart, where he sought to follow the effects of heredity and environment on a single family. The novel focuses on the French railway along with the violent passions of men. The main protagonist of the novel is Jacques Lantier who Zola describes as the third son of Gervaise and Lantier from the novel L'Assommoir. Jacques is a train driver tormented by a pathological desire to kill women. Later generations would describe Jacques as a serial killer. Another character in the story is Roubaud, the station master of the Le Havre train station. Roubaud is married to a beautiful young wife, Severine, who was abused by the company president when she was only 16. When Roubaud finds this out, his jealousy turns him into a beast and he ends up killing the president with the help of Severine. This act was witnessed by Lantier which is a catalyst making his desire to kill even greater. This all leads to some very deadly consequences for all the parties involved.
This novel is one of Zola's most violent and passionate works. I would rank it very high among his novels I have read maybe second only to Germinal. His descriptions of the railroad and its workings were excellent while the violence in the novel comes at you without a lot of warning. This novel was also made into a 1938 French film directed by Jean Renoir. I remember seeing this several years ago on Turner Classic Movies and this was also a motivation to read the book which I am glad I finally got around to. [image]...more
I have read several of Erdrich's novels including her 2021 Pulitzer Prize winning The Night Watchman and always find them to be vivid portrayals of NaI have read several of Erdrich's novels including her 2021 Pulitzer Prize winning The Night Watchman and always find them to be vivid portrayals of Native American life. The Round House is in my opinion one of her best. It won the National Book Award for Fiction in 2012 and follows the story of 13-year-old Native American Joe Coutts whose mother Geraldine is brutally attacked and raped in 1988 on an Ojibwe reservation in North Dakota. Geraldine is in shock and is very reluctant to tell what happened to the police or her family. Her husband, Bazil, is a tribal judge who uses his past experience and cases to try to determine who the perpetrator may be. But Joe becomes frustrated with the investigation and sets out to get his own answers along with his friends, Cappy, Zack, and Angus.
The novel is a coming of age story involving Joe and his friends as they try to determine the events of Geraldine's attack. The novel is also full of memorable characters ranging from the bad to the spiritual to the comical. Mooshum is an elder of the tribe who tells stories of the Ojibwe including some while he is sleeping. Linda Wishkob was born as a twin with a birth deformity whose white parents didn't want her so she was adopted by an Indian family and who later donates a kidney to save the life of her despicable brother. Then there are the elder women including Grandma Ignatia who are full of humor and bawdy tales of sex. And Joe's Uncle Whitey, the owner of a gas station whose partner Sonja is a former stripper who Joe is very attracted to and who treats him like a son.
But the main focus of the novel is indigenous reservation judicial law which hinders justice because tribal governments can't prosecute non-Indians who commit crimes on their land. In the afterword to the novel Erdrich states "this book is set in 1988, but the tangle of laws that hinder prosecution of rape cases on many reservations still exists. . . 1 in 3 Native women will be raped in her lifetime; 86 percent of rapes and sexual assaults upon Native women are perpetrated by non-Native men; few are prosecuted."
This was overall a very powerful novel and at the same time it was very readable. It was insightful and compelling in its plea for justice for Native women. It also was a good coming of age story as well as providing insights into Ojibwe folklore. I'll be looking forward to reading more of Erdrich....more
In this one, Grace Alban, returns to her home on the shores of Lake Superior after her mother's death. The home is a stately mansion called Alban House and it was built by Grace's great-grandfather by bringing its materials from Ireland including what may have been a tree containing the spirit of a witch. Grace arrives there with her teen-age daughter, Amity, and right away she plunges into a decades-old mystery involving her mother's first love who supposedly committed suicide during a summer solstice party back in 1956. But did he commit suicide or was he murdered? At the same time, Grace's Aunt Fate disappeared and was never heard from again. Grace finds a packet of old love letters which leads her to other secrets. And then a mysterious woman shows up at her mother's funeral. Could she be the long lost Aunt Fate?
This was really a fun and entertaining novel that included secret passages, ghostly sitings, witches curses, and a mystery that was not as it seemed. The story had some unexpected twists and chills and was a definite page-turner. I have a couple more novels by Webb on my TBR shelves that I will look forward to reading....more
This is the second book I have read by McFadden. The first, NEVER LIE, was a really good thriller that I enjoyed a lot. The Teacher was anoth⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
This is the second book I have read by McFadden. The first, NEVER LIE, was a really good thriller that I enjoyed a lot. The Teacher was another fast-paced story that kept me turning the pages. It is told from three different perspectives: Eve, a high school math teacher who is obsessed with shoes; Nate, her husband who also teaches English at the same school and is very attractive especially to the female students; and Addie, a troubled 16-year-old student who has been accused of a scandal involving a prior teacher who was fired from the school. When Addie returns to school at the start of the following school year, she is instantly bullied by another young student named Kenzie who is also one of the most popular students there. Eve's marriage to Nate is falling apart and Eve always has a frown on her face. Addie is assigned to Eve's math class where she struggles but she also is assigned to Nate's English class where she is taken under his wing and excels at writing poetry. But is there more going on between Nate and Addie?
McFadden does a good job of building up the suspense in this novel and changing the reader's mind about which characters to sympathize with, if any. This all builds up to an unexpected climax and the very ending of the novel was really a surprise although I'm not sure how it was even possible. (I may need to reread some of what happened earlier.) Overall, this did keep me interested but the subject matter of the plot was very disturbing and I would only mildly recommend this one....more
The Virgin Suicides is a rather shocking novel about the suicides of five sisters in the Lisbon family living in suburban Michigan. The novel is narraThe Virgin Suicides is a rather shocking novel about the suicides of five sisters in the Lisbon family living in suburban Michigan. The novel is narrated by one or more men who were teenagers at the time of the suicides which occurred in the 1970s. These men were infatuated with the Lisbon girls and have tried to piece together what really happened to them since the suicides happened twenty years earlier. The Lisbon girls had always been romanticized by the neighborhood boys while the Lisbon family had always seemed eccentric by the neighbors. When the youngest daughter, Cecilia, commits suicide on her second attempt, the reason for the suicide and the Lisbon family become the neighbor's main source of gossip. The remaining four girls become isolated and after 15-year old Lux misses her curfew following a dance, the Lisbon parents take the girls out of school and keep them in their home which slowly becomes derelict. Mrs. Lisbon is a strict Catholic and feels her daughters should not be exposed to any kind of pollution. No one visits the family and the Lisbons never leave the house. A year after Cecilia first attempted suicide, the remaining sisters successfully end their lives.
This was really a dark novel about a very shocking event. The novel is poignant and tragic and seems to reflect normal life in an American suburb until the unthinkable happens. Eugenides does an excellent job of portraying life at that time including what happens in the suburban environment. He talks at length about Dutch Elm disease and how healthy trees are destroyed because of the possible contamination of others. This seems to be a metaphor for what happened to the Lisbon sisters and the attitude of Mrs. Lisbon.
I really admire Eugenides writing and will probably be reading more of him. I read and really enjoyed his Pulitzer winning novel, Middlesex, a few years ago. I'll also be on the lookout for the which starred Kirsten Dunst.
T.C. Boyle is a writer I have admired for many years. I have read and enjoyed several of his novels and short story collections and I always look forwT.C. Boyle is a writer I have admired for many years. I have read and enjoyed several of his novels and short story collections and I always look forward to reading more of him. East Is East is, at the beginning, a somewhat humorous look at what happens when a 20-year old Japanese seaman jumps ship off the coast of Georgia in hopes of finding acceptance among the many races that abound in America. His name is Hiro and he has been scorned and ridiculed in Japan because he is a half-breed. His father was an American hippie who abandoned him and his mother when he was a baby. Hiro doesn't really know much about America other than what he has learned from TV, movies and pop music but he feels if he can make his way to a large American city such as "The City of Brotherly Love", he'll be able to fit in with the masses. But ultimately, Hiro is in trouble when he first sets foot on Topanga Island off the Georgia coast. He is hungry and alone and when he approaches a poor black resident cooking up some oysters, he doesn't expect to be attacked and the results leave Hiro on the lam from the law and the INS. He does finally find food at the cottage of a woman writer who is in residence at an artists' colony and she takes pity on him. But of course, this doesn't last and Hiro becomes the target of most everyone on the island.
When I first started reading this, I felt it had the feel of a Carl Hiaasen novel, full of humor and characters that deserved to be put in their place. Hiro was a character that you commiserate with and hope that he will be able to live his dreams. Another character, Ruth, the woman who befriends Hiro is also someone to root for. But the novel definitely has a darker side and is a harsh look at how we view outsiders. This story reminded me somewhat of one of my favorite Boyle novels, The Tortilla Curtain, which was also about an oppressed man who is on the run in America because he is from another culture and is misunderstood. Boyle is really a great wordsmith and I'll be looking forward to more....more
Marya: A Life as described by JCO in the preface to the Franklin Library edition of the book, is "very likely the most "personal" of my novels though Marya: A Life as described by JCO in the preface to the Franklin Library edition of the book, is "very likely the most "personal" of my novels though it is not, in the strictest sense, autobiographical. It contains some autobiographical material, particularly in its opening sections, and it is set, for the most part, in places . . . closely resembling places I have lived . . . but I am not Marya Knauer and Marya is surely not I." (Note: the version I read did not include Oates' preface but it can be read in its entirety online at this .)
The novel tells the story of Marya Knauer who grew up in the rural town of Innisfail (which resembles Lockport, NY where Oates grew up). The story opens with the brutal death of Marya's father who was a local mine worker. Marya's mother, an alcoholic, then abandons Marya and her two young brothers to the care of her aunt and uncle. Her cousin abuses her as a child, but she is able to excel in school and move out of her life of poverty. The novel's chapters are each written as a phase of Marya's life and show her progress moving away from her beginnings and being acknowledged for her intellect as a published author. The chapters tell of her exposure to religious beliefs by a local catholic priest, her introduction to writing by her high school English teacher, her college days and graduate work where she becomes the lover of her mentor, her teaching at a small college where she is harassed by the African-American janitor, her romance with the editor of a literary publication, and finally her desire to find her mother who she hasn't seen since she was abandoned decades previously.
This was an interesting telling of Marya's life and even though Oates states that it is not really autobiographical, it is still a very personal and fascinating story paralleling much of Oates life. I enjoyed this and felt that it was written much in the vein of Oates short stories (which I enjoy a lot). Each chapter can somewhat stand on its own with an ending that sometimes leaves the reader speculating on what happens next before moving on to another segment of Marya's story. JCO always amazes me and I will look forward to reading more of her....more
I've been reading the Longmire series off and on ever since I first saw the TV series several years ago. I read the book immediately previous to this I've been reading the Longmire series off and on ever since I first saw the TV series several years ago. I read the book immediately previous to this one, Depth of Winter, a few years ago and remember it was not the usual book in the series in that it took place in Mexico when Walt's daughter gets kidnapped by a Mexican drug lord. Walt is on his own and his usual cohorts Vic and Standing Bear do not come into play. Anyway, I was a little disappointed in that one but Land of Wolves has Walt back in familiar territory in Absaroka County, Wyoming. He has not fully recovered from his wounds inflicted in Mexico but he does have the comfort of his usual troop including both Vic and Standing Bear. The story starts out with the killing of a sheep by possibly a lone wolf wandering from its place in Yellowstone National Park. But then next to the sheep kill is found the itinerant shepherd dangling from a tree. Was he intentionally hung or did he commit suicide? It does get lonely for a shepherd by himself. The owner of the sheep is a powerful family of Basque ranchers, the Extepares. The head of the family, Abe, is also taking care of his grandson who may be with him illegally � the boy's family lives in Colorado and want the boy back. Later in the novel, both the boy and his father disappear. So is this related to the murder of the shepherd? Also on hand is a woman who has been tracking the wolf that may have killed the sheep � she was also involved with the murdered shepherd. Walt has his hands full tying all this together which leads to a somewhat unexpected conclusion.
I have not read this series in order and I have missed a few books prior to this one which I really need to read. Although it is a series, I think all of these books can stand on their own but some details may be less clear without reading the prior novels. Anyway, I did enjoy this one and was glad to see Walt back in familiar surroundings. ...more
The Three Hostages was published in 1924 and is the fourth of five Richard Hannay novels by the Scottish author John Buchan. Hannay first appeared in The Three Hostages was published in 1924 and is the fourth of five Richard Hannay novels by the Scottish author John Buchan. Hannay first appeared in The Thirty-Nine Steps which is the novel Buchan is primarily known for. The Three Hostages is set sometime after WWI and involves a plot by a criminal group trying to profit from conditions following the war. Hannay is persuaded to help recover three hostages seized by associates of this gang. The hostages include a young man, a young woman, and a 10-year old boy. At first Hannay is reluctant to join into the investigation but a cohort, Dr. Greenslade, and he puzzle over a cryptic poem sent by the kidnappers which refers to a blind woman spinning, a Norwegian barn, and "the Fields of Eden". Greenslade remembers hearing some of this before and it comes to him that he heard it from a man named Dominick Medina, a gifted and popular society man, poet and politician. As Hannay investigates, it becomes clear that Medina is behind the plot. So will Hannay be able to find the hostages before a deadline set by the abductors?
This was really a pretty good action adventure novel that I enjoyed more than The Thirty-Nine Steps which I read a couple of years ago. I think Buchan was influenced a lot by both Rider Haggard and Conan Doyle. The conclusion of this novel reminded me somewhat of Doyle's The Final Problem where Sherlock Holmes faces Moriarty at Reichenbach Falls. The novel also included elements of mysticism and the use of hypnotism to further the plot line. This was remindful of Sax Rohmer who may have been influenced by Buchan. This one also included a bit of anti-Semitism and racism scattered throughout the novel but that was very prevalent at the time this was written. Not sure if I will try to read more by Buchan but I wouldn't rule it out if something comes my way....more
Sinclair Lewis (1885 � 1951) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and playwright. In 1930, he became the first author from the United States Sinclair Lewis (1885 � 1951) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and playwright. In 1930, he became the first author from the United States to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, which was awarded "for his vigorous and graphic art of description and his ability to create, with wit and humor, new types of characters." His 1925 novel, Arrowsmith, also received the Pulitzer Prize (which Lewis declined). Lewis was influenced by other contemporary American authors including H.G. Wells, Edith Wharton, and Theodore Dreiser, author of Sister Carrie and An American Tragedy. Lewis considered Dreiser "as a master without whom his own career would probably not have been possible." Lewis was born February 7, 1885, in the village of Sauk Centre, Minnesota which is the basis for the fictionalized town of Gopher Prairie, the setting for Main Street.
Main Street satirizes small town life and is probably Lewis's most famous novel. It was at the top of the best-seller lists when it was published in 1920 and was the best-selling novel for the period 1900-1925. The protagonist of the novel is Carol Kennicott, a librarian living in Saint Paul who marries Will Kennicott, a doctor from Gopher Prairie. Carol agrees to live in the small town with Will with the idea that she will be able to change the town for the better. She joins clubs, holds parties, and even organizes a somewhat disastrous play. But she is ultimately trapped in the small town and confronted with suspicion and hostility especially by the women there. She does find some comfort with other outsiders including a young effeminate man who works as a tailor who seems to fall for Carol. However, these "friends" all fail to meet up to Carol's expectations.
The novel takes place during the 1910s including the years prior to and during WWI. It criticizes the issues of the times including isolationism, socialism, religion, business and welfare as they are seen through the small-town mentality of the residents of Gopher Prairie. This was a rather long novel at over 500 pages but it is worth reading to get a realistic view of the cultural divide among Americans that is still very prevalent today....more
This is the second book in the very compelling Jane Whitefield series. I have read several of the books in this series and have enjoyed them a lot. I This is the second book in the very compelling Jane Whitefield series. I have read several of the books in this series and have enjoyed them a lot. I put off reading this one because I thought I had lost my copy of it, but, lo and behold, it finally turned up in our garage where I think it was lost for several years behind one of my boxes full of books to be read.
Jane Whitefield is a Native-American Seneca guide who leads people to a new life when they deserve a second chance and are being sought by others. She knows how to cover her tracks and provide her clients with new identities to start a new life. But in this one, Jane sees two of the protectors of a young boy killed before she could stop the tragedy. The boy was an heir to a fortune and had been missing and was going to be declared dead so the fortune could be distributed to charities as designated in the boy's grandmother's will. But was the money properly accounted for or has someone been siphoning off these funds. And why would they want the boy dead? And then there is Mary Perkins who had stolen millions from the Savings and Loan industry. She seeks out Jane's help to disappear when she tells Jane that she is being pursued by someone after the money she may have taken. So how do the two cases relate? A very despicable bad guy, a former cop who runs a security agency is after both the boy and Mary. Can Jane successfully take them out of harm's way?
Glad I was finally able to read this entry in the series. It was a very intense thriller that I found hard to put down. The characters were very well written and I always enjoy Jane's association with the Senecas and her use of Native American skills to provide sanctuary for her clients. I have a couple more books in this series to read that I'll definitely be looking forward to....more
Another good one in the Marlowe series. Marlowe is hired to find the missing wife of a Los Angeles business man. The wife has left him but he wants toAnother good one in the Marlowe series. Marlowe is hired to find the missing wife of a Los Angeles business man. The wife has left him but he wants to make sure she is safe from harm. The trail leads to the businessman's cabin in the mountains near San Bernardino on a small lake called Little Fawn Lake. The caretaker there is also missing his wife but she is soon discovered when Marlowe goes out on a small dock; the lady's arms are seen deep in the water. How was she drowned? Was it an accident, suicide, or murder? And what happened to the businessman's wife? She was last heard from in El Paso on her way to get a divorce in Mexico. But the man she was supposedly with, denies this story and he later ends up dead. So Marlowe has some detective work to do and all is definitely not as it seems.
As usual, I really enjoyed this ride with Marlowe in his noir world of the 1940s. The novel has some hints of WWII going on but this is not a focal point of the novel (It was published in 1944). I enjoyed the leisurely world of the San Bernardino mountains as well as the seamier side of Chandler's Bay City where a lot of this takes place. The plot was somewhat convoluted as most of Chandler's novels tend to be but this really adds to the story. This one was also made into a playing Marlowe. Another one to look out for!
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