This one’s witty, clever, and fun, and it’s worthy of the great Raymond Chandler.
Ide brings Philip Marlowe to modern-day LA in this hard-boiled noir PI yarn.
Marlowe is a private investigator in modern-day Los Angeles. His father, Emmet, is an alcoholic cop still mourning the loss of his beloved wife and wishing his son had become a cop. The famous but fast-fading movie star Kendra James reluctantly hires Marlowe to find her 17-year-old runaway stepdaughter, Cody. That’s not a hard task, but the two women hate each other, and both deserve it. Kendra’s husband, Terry, had been shot to death two weeks earlier, and she hardly cares one bit. The guy was just a washed-up moviemaker anyway. And Cody won’t come home, accusing Kendra of killing her dad. Emmet and Marlowe have serious father-son issues, but Dad gives him critical help, especially by sheltering and protecting Cody. Then Marlowe unsuccessfully tries to turn down a second case: Englishwoman Ren Stewart’s young son, Jeremy, has been kidnapped by his father, and Ren is desperate to bring him back to London. The tension builds as the two plotlines intersect with the aid of Russian and Armenian gangsters. Every character has great lines, and the descriptions alone make the story worth reading. “The movie went by like a cement wall taking a walk.” “Freddie’s smile imploded, as if his throat were sucking in his features.” Kendra tells Marlowe that Cody's relationship with her brother, Noah, was “like a reenactment of the war in Vietnam. Firefights and bombing runs for years on end.” Fans of the genre know that Philip Marlowe is the creation of the late Raymond Chandler, beginning with The Big Sleep in 1939. Chandler’s Marlowe has long been considered the quintessential private investigator, relentless and resolute in his work. There is tension, violence, humor, and a bit of sadness, with romance just out of the hero’s reach.
This one’s witty, clever, and fun, and it’s worthy of the great Raymond Chandler.Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-316-45927-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Mulholland Books/Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 29, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2021
As usual, Evanovich handles the funny stuff better (much better) than the mystery stuff.
Stephanie Plum’s 31st adventure shows that Trenton’s preeminent fugitive-apprehension agent still has plenty of tricks up her sleeve, and needs every one of them.
The current caseload for Stephanie and Lula—the ex-prostitute file clerk at her cousin Vincent Plum’s bail bonds company, who serves as her unflappable sidekick—begins with two “failures to appear.” Eugene Fleck is suspected of being Robin Hoodie, who robs from the rich and, yes, distributes the proceeds to the poor. Racketeer Bruno Jug, who’s missed his court date on charges of tax evasion, is also suspected of drugging and raping a 14-year-old. But neither of these fugitives can hold a candle to Zoran Djordjevic, aka Fang, a self-proclaimed vampire wanted in connection with the gruesome fate of his late wife and three other missing women. As usual, Stephanie’s personal life is just as helter-skelter as her professional life as a bounty hunter. She’s managed to get herself engaged both to Det. Joe Morelli, of the Trenton PD, and Ranger, a former Special Forces agent who runs a private security firm; she thinks she may be pregnant; and she’s willing to marry the father, whichever of her fiances that turns out to be. On top of it all, her nothingburger schoolmate Herbert Slovinski suddenly pops up at one of the funerals she ferries her Grandma Mazur to, hitting on her relentlessly and gilding his importunities by cleaning and painting her shabby apartment and laying new carpet. Luckily, Lula’s on hand to offer cupcakes that stave off the worst disasters, and whenever this hodgepodge threatens to slow down, another FTA appears, or fails to appear.
As usual, Evanovich handles the funny stuff better (much better) than the mystery stuff.Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2024
ISBN: 9781668003138
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2024
Fast-moving excitement with a satisfying finish.
The feds must protect an accused criminal and an orphaned girl.
Maybe you’ve met him before as protagonist of The 6:20 Man (2022): Ex-Army Ranger Travis Devine, who’d had the dubious fortune to tangle with “the girl on the train,” is now assigned by his homeland security boss to protect Danny Glass, who's awaiting trial on multiple RICO charges in Washington state. Devine has what it takes: He “was a closer, snooper, fixer, investigator,” and, when necessary, a killer. These skills are on full display as the deaths of three key witnesses grind justice to a temporary halt. Glass has a 12-year-old niece, Betsy Odom, and each is the other’s only living relative—her parents recently died of an apparent drug overdose. The FBI has temporary guardianship of Betsy, who's a handful. She tells Travis that though she’s not yet 13, she's 28 in “life-shit years.” The financially well-heeled Glass wants to be her legal guardian with an eye to eventual adoption, but what are his real motives? And what happens to her if he's convicted? Meanwhile, Betsy insists that her parents never touched drugs, and she begs Travis to find out how they really died. This becomes part of a mission that oozes danger. The small town of Ricketts has a woman mayor who’s full of charm on the surface, but deeply corrupt and deadly when crossed. She may be linked to a subversive group called "12/24/65," as in 1865, when the Ku Klux Klan beast was born. Blood flows, bombs explode, and people perish, both good guys and not-so-good guys. Readers might ponder why in fiction as well as in life, it sometimes seems necessary for many to die so one may live. And what about the girl on the train? She's not necessary to the plot, but she's a fun addition as she pops in and out of the pages, occasionally leaving notes for Travis. Maybe she still wants him dead.
Fast-moving excitement with a satisfying finish.Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2024
ISBN: 9781538757901
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
