WHODUNIT?

REVIEWS BY BRUCE TIERNEY

Only the strong survive

February proves to be a bang-up month for mysteries and thrillers, as evidenced by several sizzling new releases. First up is Prayers for the Assassin, in which veteran favorite Robert Ferrigno hypothesizes a future America transformed into an Islamic republic after a civil war. The Bible Belt has seceded and formed a separate Christian nation. The war was predicated by an event that came to be known as The Zionist Betrayal, a simultaneous sneak nuclear attack on Washington, New York and Mecca that was blamed (perhaps erroneously) on Israel. Now, a couple of decades later, historian Sarah Dougan has stumbled upon evidence that not only seems to exonerate Israel in the bombings, but also suggests the implication of a fanatical billionaire Muslim extremist, who intends to re-unify the country (after a fashion) by obliterating the Christian South. As you might imagine, there are several powerful forces dedicated to seeing that this sensitive information never sees the light of day, and Dougan quickly finds herself on the run, hunted by a raging psychopathic killer known simply as Darwin (think "survival of the fittest"). Prayers for the Assassin brings to mind Fatherland, in which author Robert Harris conjectured a world 25 years after the Germans won WWII; both are chilling, cleverly rendered and endlessly thought-provoking.


It all adds up for Zero

Gen-X PI Nina Zero returns in Robert Eversz's edgy and original Zero to the Bone. As the novel opens, parolee paparazza Zero readies herself for her first solo gallery show, an exhibition of photographs in the "pulp Hollywood" mode. She shows up at the opening overdressed (for her) in a black cocktail dress, rhinestone nose stud, black leather jacket and Doc Martens. To her surprise (and glee), her photos are well-received by local art connoisseurs, not just the tabloid readers who have long been her primary customers. Her joy is short-lived: on opening night she receives an unmarked DVD which appears to be a bondage-themed snuff film. The subject of the film is one of the models for the noirish pictures in Zero's show. Worst fears are soon realized, as the body of the young actress turns up in a manzanita-ridden canyon in the Santa Monica mountains. Forbidden by the conditions of her parole (for her part in blowing up a terminal at LAX) against interfering in police investigations, Zero nonetheless determines to find out who sent her the DVD and who killed her friend. Her journey will take her through the proverbial seamy underbelly of Hollywood: the sex trade, the quack therapy industry, the sordid side of the movie business (not to mention frequent, and occasionally intimate, brushes with the law). Zero to the Bone will be a favorite with longtime Eversz readers, and should attract quite a number more into the fold.


Have gun, will meddle

Escape Clause marks the third appearance of Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigator Bill Tasker, hero of the 2005 novel Shock Wave and 2004's Walking Money. Tasker, a likable enough fellow, displays a knack for being at the wrong place at the wrong time, then using his gun. Early in Escape Clause he witnesses a holdup while visiting his bank with his young daughter; in classic Tasker fashion, he draws a bead on one of the holdup men and dispatches him to the Great Beyond. During the ensuing investigation, Tasker is sent out of harm's way to investigate a mysterious death in a remote Florida prison. Although ostensibly on the same side of the law, correctional officers and cops share no love for one another, at least in the world of writer James O. Born, and Tasker finds himself dissed and dismissed by the prison staff. At one point, the enmity becomes so pronounced that the duty guard turns a blind eye as Tasker is mauled by some of the inmates. Clearly, Tasker is on to something, and equally clearly, virtually nobody wants him to succeed: not the prison staff, not the inmates, perhaps not even his politically savvy boss. Escape Clause would be best read by those familiar with the series, as several oblique references are made to events that took place in the two previous books. That said, the series and its major characters are evolving in interesting and believable ways.


MYSTERY OF THE MONTH

It's not every month that our Tip of the Ice Pick Award goes to a rookie author, although I suppose Wesley Strick is not, strictly speaking, a rookie, even if Out There in the Dark is his first novel. Strick is well known in film circles as a screenwriter and script doctor. Among his credits are blockbuster films such as Cape Fear, Final Analysis, The Saint and Doom. For his first between-the-covers outing, Strick sets the action in 1940s Hollywood, featuring a major character who looks (and acts and thinks) a lot like a young Ronald Reagan. Not quite an A-list leading man, Harley Hayden has the self-effacing manner, the liquid blue eyes, the shock of wavy hair falling onto his forehead—in short, all the prerequisites to cast him as a Tinseltown idol. One small problem, though: he is having an affair with the daughter of the studio owner, and said studio owner is none too happy about it. Enter Mike Roarke, disgraced L.A. cop and sometime private eye. Hired by the studio owner to investigate Hayden's background and character, Roarke is perhaps on unfamiliar ground. His own background and character will not withstand heavy scrutiny, or indeed, any scrutiny at all: "The honor system was no favorite of Roarke's: indeed, it was the very system that had tripped him up in law enforcement. But Roarke didn't object. Whenever he held cash in his hand, the former vice cop found himself incapable of making even the most elementary moral distinctions. It was the darnedest thing." His loyalty to the highest bidder thus established, Roarke finds himself hired by Hayden to investigate expat B-movie director Dieter Seife, a petty tyrant with possible connections to Nazi Germany's political elite. If you are a fan of noir Hollywood mysteries (Chinatown or Day of the Locust jump to mind), Out There in the Dark will be right up your alley. You will find a collection of characters straight out of Central Casting (comely starlet, callow yet charming leading man, gruff studio boss, sleazy PI); a plot just shouting for a movie adaptation; and an insider's look at the good, the bad and the ugly of wartime Hollywood.


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