Fun in the Sunshine State

REVIEWS BY BRUCE TIERNEY

Over the past several years, Florida mystery novelists seem to have gathered into two loosely knit camps. The first finds a spiritual muse in John D. MacDonald, creator of the iconic Travis McGee series. These novels feature traditional loner heroes, quixotic good guys striving for the higher ground (think Darryl Wimberley or Randy Wayne White). The second group is influenced by the slapstick (and wonderfully disrespectful) writings of Carl Hiaasen and Laurence Shames: counterculture heroes and wacky supporting characters abound. Tim Dorsey, author of the hysterical Cadillac Beach, falls into the latter group. Deftly jumping around the 20th century with little regard for chronology, Dorsey spins a tale featuring Serge Storms, a homeless (and certifiably loony) investigator bent on discovering the whereabouts of some diamonds that have been missing since the Johnson administration. It seems that Serge's grandfather had been involved in the infamous museum heist of the 563-carat Star of India diamond. Although most of the swag from the burglary had been recovered shortly afterward, several gems remain at large 40-odd years later, and Serge feels they are rightfully part of his family legacy. Serge's adventures as a detective, mischievous criminal and serial killer are chronicled in several previous novels beginning with Florida Roadkill, each as funny and irreverent as anything on the market today.


Darker musings

And now for something completely different: no Florida sunshine, no comic caricatures, no whimsical storylines. Galway, Ireland private investigator Jack Taylor is the depressive to Serge Storms' manic. The Killing of the Tinkers, Ken Bruen's second novel featuring the dark musings of alcoholic ex-cop Taylor, is the superb sequel to last year's The Guards. This time out, Taylor is hired by the clan leader of the tinkers, Ireland's iteration of gypsies. Someone is methodically butchering young tinkers and leaving their bodies visible in the town center as a message or a warning. Taylor, a disgraced ex-Garda (Irish police), is well acquainted with the criminal element of Galway, and he is confident that he will arrive at a speedy solution. Then things begin to go to hell in the proverbial hand basket. He is beaten severely and left for dead; he awakens in the hospital with a full complement of cuts and bruises, and all of his front teeth missing. More than this, Taylor is convinced of the murderer's identity. Still, knowing the individual and proving his guilt are two seriously different matters. Like The Guards before it, The Killing of the Tinkers is an edgy, ominous thriller, but its true center is the exploration of the loneliness and desperation of a man who has made one too many wrong choices.


Mystery of the month

Choosing the recipient of the Tip of the Ice Pick Award was exceptionally difficult this month, but after lengthy deliberation, the results are in (the envelope, please). And the winner is: George Pelecanos, for Hard Revolution. For the past several years, George Pelecanos has chronicled the adventures of black D.C. private investigator Derek Strange (Soul Circus, Hell to Pay). Hard Revolution fills us in on Strange's back story—his coming of age in the early 1960s and his experiences as a police officer during the riots following the 1968 assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Derek Strange is the younger of two brothers; his older brother Dennis is a Vietnam veteran and habitual drug user, jobless and at loose ends. Dennis spends most of his time in the company of Alvin Jones, a petty criminal with a murderous mean streak. Derek is the example Dennis can never live up to, the pride of the family. Life is not all sweetness and light for Derek Strange, either, as his old friends from the neighborhood accuse him of selling out to "the Man" and his new co-workers on the police force are less than overjoyed about the growing black presence in the department. Derek Strange's story is, in many ways, a microcosm of the issue of race relations in tumultuous times. Fast paced, complex and superbly researched, Hard Revolution plants the reader in the middle of a population run amok, where the major difference between the criminals and the cops is possession of a badge.


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