A-List
by D.P. Lyle (Oceanview Publishing, 2017, Oceanview Publishing,
$14.95/$9.99) is a lively, detective procedural set in New Orleans,
which always provides lots of local colorful
characters to story lines. Kirk Ford, a movie star with a
“pretty” face has woken up in his hotel room with the dead body
of his current girl friend lying beside him. That’s the entry to
the plot of the second outing of the Jake Longley Novel by D.P. Lyle,
a veteran writer of crime fiction and real crime books. Jake
Longley, something of a slacker son ex-baseball player son of P.I.
Ray Longley, proprietor of Longley Investigations, is eyeing the
beautiful, lithe, Nicole Jemison as she exercises and he fantasizes,
when the phone rings, providing an entry into the fast-paced,
intriguing world of this second book in a new series set in New
Orleans, where the death occurred. In strong, hard-boiled detective
writing, A-List starts off
with plenty of snappy dialogue, strong place-setting description, and
driving plot to capture the reader and propel the story forward with
these two likable problem solvers whose looks and tastes for life and
each other make them both attractive and the nutrient for the
pleasant diversion to come.
While
Jake seems to be a reluctant detective and Nicole a willing and
talented apprentice, the chemistry between the two jumps off the
page. They often appear,
almost, as willing, attractive sex kittens eager to roll
around in the hay or luxuriate in the shower before getting on with
the business of solving the crime. However,
considering the present climate, this might not be an auspicious
theme for a contemporary who-done-it’s
interpersonal plot line. Nevertheless the
setting and situation are made for a good story. The murdered girl is
the niece of Tony Guidry, identified as a local mobster well
connected with the political and law enforcement authorities. The
initial bail hearing with its gawking crowd in the background sets
the hierarchy of power in notoriously corrupt New Orleans. It’s up
to Jake and Nicole to find the keys to this very promising romp.
Lyle
uses well-wrought, fast-paced dialogue to reveal character and plot.
He is a real pro at this, combining punchy, brief description with
dialogue to make the book a consistent page turner. This combination
often differentiates the newcomer to genre fiction from more
experienced writers. Early in this reading, the first with this
writer for me, I couldn’t tell whether the dramatic tension
resulting from these strong story telling traits would continue. His
continued precise, vignette descriptions of characters and settings
throughout the book display his ability to sustain the tone. Such
sparse immediacy is often the work of very careful paring down to
essentials found in good popular writers of contemporary fiction,
where readers insist on getting on with it.
As
the story proceeds, it develops that both Kirk and the dead Kristi
had Ketamine in their systems, suggesting the possibility that a
third party has somehow entered the locked room to strangle Kristi.
The book is flawed, with a guilty suspect emerging too soon, as the
trick in a who-done-it is to introduce the character, yet keep guilt
hidden as long as possible, allowing the guilty person to emerge as a
surprise. This separates it from a procedural, where we may know the
guilty party but find intrigue in the process of discovering who it
is. Let me know if you find the same issue.
A-List
contains an interesting emerging father/son relationship between
the seemingly shiftless Jake, a former major league pitcher whose
career was shortened by injury, and his father Ray, the head of
Longley Investigations and a smart, hard-working guy who always puts
work first. It adds some depth to Jake who turns out to be less of a
slacker than he tries to appear.
D.P. Lyle
Lyle
is at his best when revealing plot and character through dialogue.
Setting becomes the backdrop for the revealing dialogues he creates
between his people. He has a clear idea of what motivates each one as
characters emerge in their discussions with others, each one letting
the reader in on important details. He is an experienced writer who
has written several other series as well as several books about how
to write detective fiction. After many years practicing medicine as
a cardiologist, he now writes non-fiction about forensic medicine
with an eye toward supporting other crime writers. He also maintains
The Crime
Writer’s Forensics Blog.
A-List
by D.P. Lyle (Oceanview Publishing, 2017, Oceanview Publishing,
$14.95/$9.99) resonates with skill, insight, and the plain hard work
of good writing. But, about ¾ of the way through the book, I think I
solved the crime. This is a disappointment in a book with fairly
intriguing characters, lots of excellent dialogue, and the always
intriguing setting in New Orleans, to discover a plotting flaw that
may give away the doer through a plotting error. Nevertheless I
enjoyed this book while discovering a new, to me, writer who has the
added attractiveness of having written several other series as well
as books designed to help aspiring and practicing mystery writers
cope with technical details about writing. I read A-List
as a pre-publication electronic book provided by the publisher
through Edelweiss on my Kindle
app.
Please remember
that books I review are available in various editions at Amazon.com.
If you order them through a link on my blog, I receive a small
commission and you pay no more. This title is currently available on
Kindle for $0.99.
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