Starred review from January 30, 2017
Three loosely connected novellas, each focused on a homicide case, make up this gritty, darkly witty, and often bitter California noir from Pyne (Fifty Mice). In “The Big Empty,” set in Hollywood in June 1954, PI Rylan Lovely, an Army vet, investigates the murder of the ex-wife who betrayed him with his blind best friend; along the way, Lovely rescues a child, Gilbert Kirby. In “Losertown,” set in San Diego in June 1987, Kirby, now an assistant U.S. attorney, is trapped between a politically appointed boss, Sabrina Colter, “somebody’s kid sister crossed with a poisonous snake,” and his lover, FBI agent Tina Z, as they attempt to trap a drug lord. Kirby never knows that he’s the father of Tina’s Marine daughter, Willa, who’s arrested for killing her husband in “Portuguese Bend,” set in Long Beach in June 2016. Paralyzed homicide detective Riley McCluggage and freelance photographer Finn Miller try to crack the case. Pyne’s wounded characters walk their mean streets honorably in this compelling account of attempts to find sense in a senseless world. Agent: Victoria Sanders: Victoria Sanders & Associates.
February 1, 2017
The Catalina Eddy sets in, and lust, greed, racism, and corruption come ashore.Like the Santa Ana wind, the Catalina Eddy can affect behavior and attitude. The "June gloom" it brings is the background of these three linked novellas. The first begins with a bang: the first thermonuclear test in 1954. It then follows PI Rylan Lovely (ex-OSS and -CIA operative) through 1950s Los Angeles as he unravels the mystery of his estranged wife's death. Framed initially in somewhat radioactive prose ("The quiet is harshed by crickets"), the tale settles in and elements of racism, corruption, government secrecy, and misogyny are incorporated. This novella and the subsequent ones, which are set in San Diego in 1987 and 2016, are loosely linked: a child from the first appears as Assistant U.S. Attorney Gil Kirby in the second, and the daughter of Kirby's FBI partner becomes a falsely accused murderer in the third. The children are believable characters, but their reappearance as adults seems more coincidental than inevitable. Kirby is pressured by the new DA, a Reagan appointee, to dig up dirt on San Diego's popular, progressive mayor; cartels are involved and Mexicans demeaned; the regular, if not the proper, course of justice is perverted. In the third novella, Finn Miller, a crime-scene photographer, becomes entangled both professionally and personally with undercover police officer Riley McCluggage and her efforts to exonerate a stoic Marine, Willa Ko, who is accused of shooting her husband. All three stories sustain noir conventions: smart, smart-aleck male main characters; women menaced by corrupt and powerful men; daunting weather; a staccato prose style; and an existential attitude. The stories end, mostly, happily (at least for the survivors), and ultimately hope is affirmed despite depressing meteorological conditions. Overall, three engaging and satisfying adventures. A worthy addition to the shelf, between "noir" and now.
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February 15, 2017
Taking its cue from the unique California weather phenomena created by an offshore vortex that leads to low-lying inland fog, Pyne's (Fifty Mice) newest book produces its own nebulousness in story and characters. The truth is often opaque, especially when trying to get to the bottom of murder. There are three vaguely connected novellas at play here, all involving protagonists seeking emotional release or at least clarity. Instead, they find themselves being swept up in the monotonous, murky swirls of life, the times they live in and the unpredictability of the human animal. Pyne, who has also written successfully for television (Bosch) and film, turns in a quick-paced trio of gritty yarns with staccato dialog and grim survivors, all seeking redemption in whatever form is allowed. VERDICT This is a fun read for the suspense and gumshoe detective crowd.--Russell Miller, Prescott P.L., AZ
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