DREAM TOWN

4 stars out of 5

It's always refreshing when the old is new again - as in a return to the "private eyes" of the '50s. This is the third in the series featuring Aloysius Archer, a P.I. and World War II vet who plies his trade in Los Angeles. This one is a little darker than the first two, I think, but no less entertaining.

Archer works for friend Willie Dash at the latter's detective agency; as this story begins, he's planning a nice evening with old friend and love interest of sorts, Liberty Callahan to ring in the new year. Their dinner is interrupted by the appearance of Eleanor Lamb, a screenwriter and friend of Liberty. When she learns what Archer does for a living, she tells him she thinks someone is trying to kill her and hires a somewhat reluctant Archer to investigate.

Later, when he calls Ellie for more information, a man answers but hangs up. Curious, Archer heads for Ellie's house, only to find a dead body inside but no Ellie. Now more curious than ever - and worried that something bad may have happened to Ellie - he sets off on a journey that takes him through the bowels of 1950s Hollywood and the mob-infested casinos of Las Vegas and nearly gets himself killed.

And therein lies the best parts of the book; especially since I grew up in the 1950s with my nose in "movie star" magazines like "Photoplay" and "Modern Screen" to get the latest scoops on Marilyn Monroe, Pat Boone, Doris Day, Audrey Hepburn and James Dean (just to mention a few), the behind-the-scenes studio goings-on, not all of which were pleasant, were a treat to read about.

As for the plot, I can't reveal much more without running into spoiler territory. So, I'll just say I enjoyed this one (and the previous two) very much and think you will, too.

Dream Town by David Baldacci (Grand Central Publishing, April 2022); 433 pp.

A GAMBLING MAN

5 stars out of 5

Generally speaking, I'm not fond of "period" stories; when I do tackle them, they're more often set in the future than the past. This series is an exception - and a wonderful one at that. I loved would-be private eye Aloysius Archer from the git-go (which was in the first book of the series, One Good Deed), and I love him here as well. 

The period is in the late '40s, when Archer (he tends to avoid mentioning his given name) has just been released from jail for a crime he insists he didn't commit and is headed for California to look for private investigator Willie Dash, under whose tutelage he hopes to learn the ropes and carve out a new and potentially rewarding career for himself. As a World War II vet, he's seen plenty of action, so he figures he can withstand a little danger here and there.

He makes a pitstop in Reno, where he lands some money and a rare bright red 1939 Delahaye convertible (note: Google this car - you gotta see this baby to believe it). Archer also meets up with feisty actress wannabe named Liberty Callahan, who, as luck would have it, is headed to California as well and joins him for the last leg of the journey. A few experiences later, they land in Bay Town, overlooking the vast Pacific Ocean; here, Archer finds his mentor and Liberty finds a decent job as a singer/dancer at a local saloon to tide her over till she moves on to the Hollywood scene.

Willie is happy with Archer, but with the town, not so much. It's run, for the most part, by a filthy rich family, and the son-in-law of the head honcho is running for mayor against a local dentist. But the family guy is a blackmail target - accused of bedding one of the "girls" from the saloon. He denies the allegations, of course, and has hired Willie to get to the bottom of things. Willie, in turn, puts Archer on the case; when the saloon woman turns up murdered, things start to heat up and the bad guys start packing heat. It doesn't take long, though, for Archer to discover not only that there's much more at stake here than a mayoral race, but that some people will take extreme measures to bring his investigation efforts to a halt.

The rest of the story is riddled with bullets, dead bodies and wrongdoing of all kinds, but it all gets sorted out in the end thanks mostly to Archer. It's a great follow-up to the first one, and I hope the author wastes no time coming up with the third. Well done!

A Gambling Man by David Baldacci (Grand Central Publishing, April 2021); 375 pp.

ONE GOOD DEED

5 stars out of 5

Any time a book by one of my all-time favorite authors is released, it goes on my must-read list. And when it brings the promise of a new character, well, I immediately move it to the top; after all, it could be the start of something good.

Honestly, I don't know if the intent here is to launch a series featuring World War II veteran and newly released prison inmate Aloysius Archer; I do know that if it is, count me in. Set in 1949, it's certainly different - with words like "gumshoe," "grub" and "dames" sprinkled liberally throughout. Men wore hats (Archer, a fedora), ladies wore gloves and Veronica Lake peekaboo hairdos and everybody smoked - usually unfiltered Lucky Strikes or Pall Malls. The only thing halfway resembling technology came in the form of a Dictaphone machine (if you need to ask what that is, you're just a young whippersnapper).

Deposited by bus in prison-assigned Poca City, Archer will be on parole for three years and report to officer Ernestine Crabtree. Chancing a stop in a local bar - off limits to parolees - he meets a flaunt-it-all high-roller who's there showing off his female arm candy. They begin to talk, and the guy hires Archer, who must find gainful employment as a condition of parole, to collect a debt (specifically, a Cadillac) he's owed by another local businessman. But when Archer goes to meet that man, he learns there's more to the story; that arm candy, it seems, is the daughter of the guy who hired him. What's more, that Caddy's going nowhere unless the daughter agrees to come back home to daddy - and she ain't budging.

That leaves Archer somewhere between a rock and a hard place, and matters get even more complicated when said daughter decides she's sweet on Archer. If that weren't enough, everywhere he turns, the rather stuffy Miss Crabtree keeps her eye on his comings and goings - as does another ex-con Archer knows to be nastier than most. When one of the characters bites the dust right under Archer's nose, the law comes calling - tapping Archer, of course, as the primary suspect.

Returning to jail understandably isn't on Archer's agenda, though, and the only way he can prove his innocence is to find the motive and unearth the real killer. That's exactly what he sets out to do, finding an unlikely ally in the form of one of the detectives on the case - who tells Archer he's got the makings to become a pretty good gumshoe (which I'm taking as a clue that we'll see him again).

And that's where my part of the story ends; the rest is a very entertaining, finely tuned story that had me riveted right up to the end. Yes, it's a bit of a departure from the author's usual fare and the time setting is reminiscent of a Raymond Chandler or Dashiell Hammett book. But I absolutely loved it, and I think other readers will agree. Highly recommended - oh, and more, please? 

One Good Deed by David Baldacci (Grand Central Publishing, July 2019); 433 pp.