Too Much Stuff by Don Bruns

Published by Oceanview on December 12, 2011

James and Skip, the two lads who founded More or Less Investigations, are hired to find a ton of gold that went missing in the Florida Keys during a hurricane in 1935. James and Skip are about as well equipped to handle investigations as Wayne and Garth (in fact, they often reminded me of Wayne and Garth), but the promise of earning a small fortune if they find the gold, not to mention the inducement of $1,000 in expense money, sends them on their way. The task will not prove easy; another pair of investigators, hired six month earlier, has disappeared. Of course, in their effort to find the buried treasure the young men uncover something far more sinister and find themselves surrounded by danger.

Too Much Stuff is a fun novel, more a comedy than a mystery/thriller. The mood is light, the characters amuse themselves with entertaining banter, and the plot has just enough goofiness to offset the traditional trappings of a PI story. This is a quick and easy read, a nice respite from thrillers that take their tough guy heroes too seriously.

James and Skip would never be described as tough; they're easy-going guys who don't carry guns or litter the landscape with corpses. In James and Skip, Don Bruns has created a pair of engaging characters: James has a way with the ladies while Skip can't believe he's lucky enough to have a girlfriend. James has a head full of movie trivia and frequently quotes his favorite lines of movie dialog while Skip tries to guess the source. Yes, that's been done before, but even if the use of film trivia is unoriginal, it adds to the novel's entertainment value.

Bruns writes in a breezy style that's well suited to the novel's subject matter. He creates a strong sense of place in the book's Florida Keys setting. A plot twist near the story's conclusion is a bit obvious -- it's hard to believe James and Skip couldn't figure out what was happening -- and the action-filled ending is wildly improbable, but it doesn't detract from the novel as a whole, provided you're willing to trade amusement for credibility.

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Mercury's Rise by Ann Parker

Published by Poisoned Pen Press on November 1, 2011

Mercury's Rise is the third novel in Ann Parker's Silver Rush mystery series. The story takes place in Colorado. Ann Parker provides enough period detail to create a convincing 1880 background, although I can't say I was enthralled by her detailed descriptions of the garments worn by her female characters (readers with a stronger interest in the history of women's fashion might react differently). In any event, as she makes clear in an author's note, Parker's research about Colorado in 1880 was thorough.

Mercury's Rise starts with a death, then fills in the back story. Inez Stannert and her friend Susan Carothers are taking a coach from Leadville to Manitou (a city known for its mineral springs and favored by patients suffering from consumption). Inez is traveling to Manitou to meet her sister, Harmony, who has been caring for Inez's son, William, for the last year. Another passenger, Edward Pace, has an apparent heart attack and dies, shortly after drinking one of the tonics the irascible Dr. Prochazka had prescribed for Edward's wife, Kirsten Pace. Kirsten suspects foul play, leading Inez to investigate. The mystery deepens when other targets of homicidal mischief begin to appear.

Inez is a strong, independent woman in a time and place that has little regard for the concept of gender equality. Inez is a saloon keeper in Leadville; her taste for whiskey is met with disapproval in the more genteel environs of Manitou, and her role as a business owner is viewed with suspicion by the men who surround her. Inez is more than a little distressed at the sudden reappearance of Mark, the husband she had intended to divorce on the ground of abandonment. Mark has an explanation for his disappearance but Inez doesn't know whether to believe him. Mercury's Rise gives equal attention to Inez's domestic problems and to the mystery Inez investigates.

Although Parker's prose is competent, her pace is slowed by redundancy as characters tell other characters facts that the reader already knows. For my taste, there's a bit too much soap opera in Inez's relationships with Mark and with her meddling Aunt Agnes. The mystery, on the other hand, is intriguing, even if the culprit's identity isn't difficult to guess. The motivation for the crimes is credible. Parker appears to have done her research into nineteenth century medicine and divorce law. Parker integrates an interesting discussion of medical science's developing understanding of the cause of tuberculosis into the plot. A twist on the domestic subplot in the final chapters, after the murder mystery is resolved, is less interesting and not very convincing. The story of Inez and Mark continues long after the murder is solved -- too long to sustain my interest. In short, I liked the mystery; the soap opera, not so much.  

RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS

Nairobi Heat by Mukoma Wa Ngugi

First published in South Africa in 2009; published by Melville House on September 13, 2011

A black police detective named Ishmael is surprised when a Nairobi taxi driver calls him a white man, but he's as out-of-place in Africa as any other American.  Ishmael is chasing clues in the murder of a blonde woman in Madison, Wisconsin's prosperous Maple Bluff neighborhood, where a Kenyan named Joshua Hakizimana claims to have found her dead on his front porch, the apparent victim of a heroin overdose.  Hakizimana has achieved some fame as an advocate for Rwandan refugees and doesn't seem the murderous type.  On the strength of an anonymous telephone call urging him to come to Nairobi because "the truth is in the past," the police chief rather improbably gives Ishmael permission to pursue the investigation in Kenya.  In Nairobi, Ishmael joins a detective named O.  As Ishmael and O pursue leads, they become targets of assassination and do a fair amount of their own killing while edging closer to a criminal conspiracy involving corruption and genocide that overshadows the lone death in Madison. 

While Nairobi Heat succeeds as a detective story (and quite a good one, once the surprising connection between Hakizimana and the dead woman on his porch is revealed), it is also the story of Ishmael's journey toward an understanding of his racial identity.  In addition to finding clues in Kenya, Ishmael finds something else -- not his roots, exactly, but a kind of serenity.  The novel explores an interesting racial dynamic:  some blacks, including his ex-wife, view Ishmael as a race traitor because he occasionally arrests black suspects, while some whites, seeing his black face in the police department, wonder why he's not in handcuffs.  In Kenya, O discusses at some length the relationship between color and justice.  Mukoma Wa Ngugi integrates this commentary into the story without slowing the novel's pace and, for the most part, without becoming too preachy (although some degree of preachiness is consistent with the personalities of Ishmael and O).

On the other hand, once Ishmael returns to Madison, the story begins to drag.   Ngugi is more sure-footed as he relates the sights and sounds of Nairobi.  His prose flows with the rhythm of the streets as he describes dancers and drinkers, taxis and slums, destitute refugees and wealthy landowners.  His take on America is less insightful.  When Ishmael investigates the murder and its implications after leaving Nairobi, Ngugi adds a twist to the plot that slows the story's momentum without returning a compensatory reward.  The KKK plays a role in the novel's ending that is entirely unconvincing, in part because the Klan doesn't have the kind of power or presence in Madison that Ngugi attributes to it.  A final discussion of race and class is a bit heavy-handed.

On balance, Nairobi Heat isn't perfect, but it's a quick and easy read that addresses serious issues while telling an entertaining, offbeat detective story.  An element of vigilantism that might be disturbing in other novels seems natural in this one.  Ishmael is an interesting character and the ending sets up the possibility of his return.  On the strength of this novel, I would probably read the next one if Ngugi decides to reprise the character.

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The Dog Who Knew Too Much by Spencer Quinn

Published by Atria Books on September 6, 2011

A detective story narrated by a dog.  What could be better?  Apart from his impressive understanding of the English language and his ability to narrate books, Chet is very much a dog:  loyal, forgetful, easily distracted, always hungry, fascinated by odors and averse to loud noises, often puzzled by humans but usually willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.  Chet prefers a clear head to deep thought.  He’s a literal thinker:  when he hears that someone is wearing ratty clothing, Chet looks for the rats; when he hears he’s in a one-horse town, Chet looks for the horse; when someone comments that a character’s behavior stinks, Chet wonders why he can’t smell it.

Chet’s partner in the Little Detective Agency is Bernie Little. Bernie is hired to protect a woman from her ex-husband.  The mission changes when the woman’s son disappears on a camping trip.  With Chet’s help, Bernie searches for the missing boy (searching for things, particularly hot dogs, is a task at which Chet excels).  When the search leads to the discovery of a murder victim in a gold mine, Bernie begins to suspect that the woman hasn’t been wholly truthful about the reason he was hired.  A conspiracy is soon unveiled that threatens to separate Chet from Bernie.  As the story progresses, Chet has some solo adventures while maintaining a stream of consciousness commentary on items of interest to the canine nation.

This isn’t the kind of book you want to overanalyze.  Spencer Quinn has a dry sense of humor that matches my own.  He’s a keen observer of dogs; his take on how dogs think kept me laughing from the first page to the last.  The Dog Who Knew Too Much is meant as an entertaining romp and that’s the spirit in which I enjoyed it.  This is apparently the fourth in a series of Chet and Bernie books.  I’m so in love with Chet it made me want to read them all.

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13 Million Dollar Pop by David Levien

Published by Doubleday on August 9, 2011

Frank Behr doesn’t fit in with the corporate culture of the private investigation/security consulting firm that employs him, but he has a baby on the way and it’s a better living than he made while working on his own.  Asked at the last minute to fill in as a bodyguard for Bernie Kolodnik, a wealthy businessman who is about to accept an appointment to the Senate, Behr’s boredom is relieved by gunfire.  When Behr later tries to learn what progress the police have made tracking down the man who tried to assassinate Kolodnik, his inquiries are stonewalled.  Behr decides to investigate the shooting on his own.  While he’s at it, Behr investigates an apparent attempt to blackmail his boss.  As we follow Behr’s progress, we’re also introduced to Waddy Dwyer, the Welshman who wants to see Kolodnik dead.  Dwyer comes to America after deciding that if he wants the job done right, he’ll have to do it himself.  A real estate developer, a political consultant, a call girl and her pimp, and a former FBI agent all add to the mystery surrounding the plot to kill Kolodnik.

Behr reeks of machismo but he isn’t as obnoxious as some other thriller heroes who suffer from the same affliction.  He has the standard action hero personality (i.e., not much); strip away his macho veneer and there’s nothing left.  Still, this is a plot-driven novel and while strong characterization would have been a nice bonus, its absence doesn’t wholly negate enjoyment of the fast moving story. 

David Levien’s writing style is reasonably fluid.  Occasional phrases are a little silly (like two big guys hitting each other with “Superman punches”) but most of his prose is slightly better than the norm for action-thrillers.  As the story unfolds, Levien delivers a nice blend of action and anticipation.  The plot threads cohere into a story that is intricate without becoming unduly confusing.  A scene toward the end involving a hot-tempered police officer is contrived, inserted in an obvious attempt to induce the reader’s short-lived shock, but the rest of the story evolves naturally and credibly.  Not every plotline is neatly resolved (one seems to disappear entirely), perhaps with a view to setting up the next novel in the series. My most serious complaint is that the novel’s two heroes, in addition to throwing Superman punches, seem to have Superman’s invulnerability and stamina -- they keep fighting through gunshot and knife wounds -- but that’s standard for action-oriented fiction.   

This is the third Frank Behr novel (I haven't read the first two).  I liked 13 Million Dollar Pop just enough to stimulate my interest in other novels in the series, but not enough to make me stand in line waiting to buy them.

Addendum:  I received a polite email from the author explaining that "Superman punch" is a Mixed Martial Arts term that "refers to a lunging punch where the striker leaves his feet to generate maximum force."  I didn't know that, and while it still sounds silly to my ear, I appreciate the clarification.

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