WHEN THE LIGHT GOES - Larry McMurty

 

I've been reading about Duane since The Last Picture Show and books featuring hiom have been entertaining me for a long time.

Duane is now a 64 year old widower who has just returned from a holiday in Egypt and is having trouble settling back into his small town. 

There is his therapist who wont sleep with him and a new employee who gives every indication that she will and all this confuses Duane.

As always this is very human and hilarious in parts.  The last part of the book is Duane having sex which gets a bit tedious but like all McMurty's writing its very ,very enjoyable.

THE SHOT - Philip Kerr

 

Tom Jefferson is a professional killer who takes a contract from the Mafia & the CIA to kill Castro.  Things are running to plan until a corrupt FBI agent exposes Tom to information that changes his target.

This appears to be a " run of the mill we know how this will play out"  but it has a great twist over the last third of the book and it surprises.

A good political thriller.

THE VERONICA DEAN CASE - Hillary Waugh

This is a contemporary thriller (early 80's) written in a Sam Spade hard boiled style rather than Waugh's normal police procedural style.  

I would classify this as a parody of Hammett's writing but lacking the depth.

The story is very silly, the PI Simon Kaye gets involved in the hunt for a treasure map with lots of violence.  

I'd buy more with this character solely because Waugh is fairly difficult to find. Don't go out of your way to read this.

 

THE PRIVATE WOUND - Nicholas Blake

 

A 30 year old writer settles in a Irish village and soon begins an intense affair with the local squires wife.  Soon there's a murder.

This is more a romance than a murder/ mystery not the usual Blake fare but a good read without his usual humour.

THE ZEBRA STRIPED HEARSE- Ross MacDonald

 

Lew Archer is hired to find the dirt on young painter who is engaged to a wealthy mans daughter.  As normal you hire Archer he keeps digging and the truth isn't what you want sometimes.

MacDonalds writing is much more than the lurid paperback cover suggests.  These are novels about the human condition, greed, lust, jealousy and he writes about these things better than many more celebrated novelist's.

I rate him higher than Chandler.

THE BATTLING PROPHET - Arthur Upfield

 

A famous meteorologist die after a three week drinking bout.  The doctor certifies that his death was caused by heart failure due to alcohol poisoning ,but was it?

This is a very silly Bony, we have security services, foreign powers, not the best in the series.

SCANDAL AT HIGH CHIMINEYS -John Dickson Carr

 

A Victorian variation on the locked room mystery.  Not up to Carr's usual standard but entertaining.

Carr is always worth reading, it is just story quality varies from book to book quite markedly.