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Shortcut Man #2
Tribulations of the Shortcut Man
From the writer described as “a worthy successor to Chandler” (Michael Connelly), the follow-up to Shortcut Man, featuring Dick Henry, is a rousing tale of sin and salvation in the City of Angels. Dick Henry is the Shortcut Man, assisting people with their sticky situations in the belief that the shortest answer to many problems may not always be legal. In Tribulations of the Shortcut Man, he reluctantly provides assistance to an old girlfriend, pole dancer Pussy Grace.
After Pussy’s boyfriend, rich and famous developer and septuagenarian Art Lewis, has inexplicably cut off communication with her, Dick and Puss enter Lewis’s mansion disguised as gas company employees to investigate. Everything quickly goes to hell. Dick and Puss flee, leaving the very dead Art Lewis behind. Dick anticipates arrest until news breaks the next morning: Art Lewis has just gotten married
and is now enjoying his honeymoon. Realizing a conspiracy is afoot, Dick must navigate his way through the underbelly of Los Angeles and a motley crew of miscreants in pursuit of justice.
“Filled with enough dark humor and shady characters to satisfy the most rabid noir fan” (Associated Press), p. g. sturges’s Shortcut Man series is hard-boiled crime at its best.
After Pussy’s boyfriend, rich and famous developer and septuagenarian Art Lewis, has inexplicably cut off communication with her, Dick and Puss enter Lewis’s mansion disguised as gas company employees to investigate. Everything quickly goes to hell. Dick and Puss flee, leaving the very dead Art Lewis behind. Dick anticipates arrest until news breaks the next morning: Art Lewis has just gotten married
and is now enjoying his honeymoon. Realizing a conspiracy is afoot, Dick must navigate his way through the underbelly of Los Angeles and a motley crew of miscreants in pursuit of justice.
“Filled with enough dark humor and shady characters to satisfy the most rabid noir fan” (Associated Press), p. g. sturges’s Shortcut Man series is hard-boiled crime at its best.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published February 7, 2012
1 person is currently reading
97 people want to read
About the author
P.G. Sturges
11 books11 followersPreston G. Sturges. Jr. is an author and screenwriter born into a Hollywood family. He's the son of the famed Hollywood screenwriter and director, Preston Sturges, responsible for such classics as "Sullivan's Travels." He died when the author was just six years old but the two share a love of quirky characters and screwball plots. P.G. Sturges grew up amongst the glitz and glamour of Los Angeles. He spent time as a submarine sailor for the U.S. Navy, calibrating tools as a metrologist, also as a musician and a screenwriter before becoming a novelist at age 57.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
April 6, 2012
This sophomore effort contains the same choppy writing and other errors that I can forgive in a debut.
While I still liked the protagonist, Dick Henry aka the Shortcut Man, the story was very dull. While in the first book Dick's humanity comes through, in this one it is just a glimmer.
While the debut used wry humor and wit to good effect, it is missing here in (perhaps) an attempt to be more noirish.
The blurbed comparisons to Chandler baffle me. (Yes, it's set in Los Angeles).
YMMV but I'm giving up on this series.
While I still liked the protagonist, Dick Henry aka the Shortcut Man, the story was very dull. While in the first book Dick's humanity comes through, in this one it is just a glimmer.
While the debut used wry humor and wit to good effect, it is missing here in (perhaps) an attempt to be more noirish.
The blurbed comparisons to Chandler baffle me. (Yes, it's set in Los Angeles).
YMMV but I'm giving up on this series.
October 31, 2017
A bit on the dull side, but still enjoyed it.
May 2, 2013
Ah, the shortcut man. these books have such potential, but they are beyond infuriating.
The shortcut man is a highly amusing anti-hero unleashing a fairly inventive set of methods to enact some measure of justice for the downtrodden. I did particularly like his voice, and his color commentary on his misdeeds particular in the form of jokes and short stories is an endearing trait.
The villains and the utter trainwreck that is their story arc is giddy fun.
And, to Sturges credit, he attempts to fit in a nuanced commentary on race relations in america that upon reflection I think is more right than it is problematic.
Unfortunately, in the narrative, none of these three subplots have much to do with each other. The save-the-ex-girlfriends house from gentrification story is utterly disconnected from the rest of the plot and the tonal shift was beyond jarring. Plot holes abound, from minor research issues*, to serious inconsistencies**, to just plain nonsensical plot twists.***
And sturges should be jailed for the abomination that is his point of view structure. The narrative jumps willy-nilly from character to character, occasionally in and out of first person within a few paragraphs.
I have said it before and will say it again, p.g. sturges is in no way shape or form the heir apparent to any of the detective mystery greats. I really wish people would stop saying that, in fact, because it detracts from the some of the truly fantastic mystery writers who are working now. The shortcut man is an enjoyable, but flawed series of mystery novels, and that's just fine.
* A glock 17 is not a revolver. Do you even know what a revolver is?! Hint, it has something quite obvious about it that revolves.
** If Pussy had the entrance code to the Art's gated community, why did they need to sneak in as gas company employees in the first place?!?!
*** Why the #$%^ did he steal the toe only to do nothing with it and feed it to the dog?!?!?!
The shortcut man is a highly amusing anti-hero unleashing a fairly inventive set of methods to enact some measure of justice for the downtrodden. I did particularly like his voice, and his color commentary on his misdeeds particular in the form of jokes and short stories is an endearing trait.
The villains and the utter trainwreck that is their story arc is giddy fun.
And, to Sturges credit, he attempts to fit in a nuanced commentary on race relations in america that upon reflection I think is more right than it is problematic.
Unfortunately, in the narrative, none of these three subplots have much to do with each other. The save-the-ex-girlfriends house from gentrification story is utterly disconnected from the rest of the plot and the tonal shift was beyond jarring. Plot holes abound, from minor research issues*, to serious inconsistencies**, to just plain nonsensical plot twists.***
And sturges should be jailed for the abomination that is his point of view structure. The narrative jumps willy-nilly from character to character, occasionally in and out of first person within a few paragraphs.
I have said it before and will say it again, p.g. sturges is in no way shape or form the heir apparent to any of the detective mystery greats. I really wish people would stop saying that, in fact, because it detracts from the some of the truly fantastic mystery writers who are working now. The shortcut man is an enjoyable, but flawed series of mystery novels, and that's just fine.
* A glock 17 is not a revolver. Do you even know what a revolver is?! Hint, it has something quite obvious about it that revolves.
** If Pussy had the entrance code to the Art's gated community, why did they need to sneak in as gas company employees in the first place?!?!
*** Why the #$%^ did he steal the toe only to do nothing with it and feed it to the dog?!?!?!
April 11, 2012
Tribulations of the Shortcut Man features Dick Henry, a private eye who doesn’t necessarily play by the rules but can navigate the Hollywood Hills and the seamy underbelly of Los Angeles with equal sangfroid. In The Shortcut Man, the first in the series, Henry refers to Preston Sturges, creator of brilliant 1940s movies including Christmas in July, Hail the Conquering Hero and The Lady Eve all wistful tales of idealism and lost innocence (not to mention being the father of P.G. Sturges, the book’s author). Henry claims that his favorite Sturges’ movie is Unfaithfully Yours, a telling choice, for that film, along with Tribulations of the Shortcut man is about innocence lost long before the story begins.
There are no prelapsarian ideals or even such memories for Dick Henry. A submarine sailor turned police officer, Henry’s career ended when he pumped four bullets into a child rapist. “The first two bullets” he tells us, “might have had legal justification but the third and fourth were personal. And cops don’t get personal. They just take care of business.”
Henry’s not a cop anymore, so when ex-girlfriend, Pussy Grace, (yes, really) beseeches him to help her solve the mystery of why her rich boyfriend Art Lewis is incommunicado, Henry attempts to untangle this Ariadne’s thread involving a Superior Court judge, assorted movie stars, and crack heads all looking to fleece Lewis out of millions.
One of the pleasures of this novel is the stable of amusing secondary characters.
Scaring off business at Dr. Peach’s veterinary clinic, Loman London, according to Henry,
was a fiftyish wastrel whose contributions to society had not yet added up to a popcorn fart. Two hundred seventy or so pounds were apportioned over his large frame with a hefty surplus accumulating at the waistline. Matted dreadlocks depended thickly to his shoulders. His skin was rough and permanently reddened. Treelike legs, in shorts, interface with the pavement through a pair of huaraches. Loman’s scam was a simple one. He would set up his rolling incense cart in front of a likely business and wait to be paid to go somewhere else.
In a very funny scene, Henry encourages Loman to find a new location through the simple expedient of setting fire to his incense enterprise.
Sometimes one of these characters can even turn into an asset. Henry is hired to remove from the library a large, shabby man dozing at a table. “There, in all his reeking, solitary disglory,” notes Henry “was a library stinker. The stench of long unwashed human flesh was beyond horrible and emanated in waves from the miscreant.”
Rutland Atwater, the stinker, leaves the library, but he soon calls on Henry to offer his services.
“I want to make money. I want to drive a Mercedes. I want a nice apartment. I want to smoke good medical marijuana. I want to fuck beautiful women.”
“What is it that you do better than anyone else, may I ask?”
Atwater clapped his huge, fat hands. "I stink Dick. That’s what I do. I stink. To high heaven. And beyond.”
Atwater’s first job is to visit a lawyer who has long refused to pay what he owes to Henry.
The malodorous man handcuffs himself to a rail, swallows the key, and waits.
One would think being a stinker isn’t much of a job.
It is when you can collect the debt.
The whole cast provides endless entertainment, despite the titular tribulations of poor Dick Henry.
There are no prelapsarian ideals or even such memories for Dick Henry. A submarine sailor turned police officer, Henry’s career ended when he pumped four bullets into a child rapist. “The first two bullets” he tells us, “might have had legal justification but the third and fourth were personal. And cops don’t get personal. They just take care of business.”
Henry’s not a cop anymore, so when ex-girlfriend, Pussy Grace, (yes, really) beseeches him to help her solve the mystery of why her rich boyfriend Art Lewis is incommunicado, Henry attempts to untangle this Ariadne’s thread involving a Superior Court judge, assorted movie stars, and crack heads all looking to fleece Lewis out of millions.
One of the pleasures of this novel is the stable of amusing secondary characters.
Scaring off business at Dr. Peach’s veterinary clinic, Loman London, according to Henry,
was a fiftyish wastrel whose contributions to society had not yet added up to a popcorn fart. Two hundred seventy or so pounds were apportioned over his large frame with a hefty surplus accumulating at the waistline. Matted dreadlocks depended thickly to his shoulders. His skin was rough and permanently reddened. Treelike legs, in shorts, interface with the pavement through a pair of huaraches. Loman’s scam was a simple one. He would set up his rolling incense cart in front of a likely business and wait to be paid to go somewhere else.
In a very funny scene, Henry encourages Loman to find a new location through the simple expedient of setting fire to his incense enterprise.
Sometimes one of these characters can even turn into an asset. Henry is hired to remove from the library a large, shabby man dozing at a table. “There, in all his reeking, solitary disglory,” notes Henry “was a library stinker. The stench of long unwashed human flesh was beyond horrible and emanated in waves from the miscreant.”
Rutland Atwater, the stinker, leaves the library, but he soon calls on Henry to offer his services.
“I want to make money. I want to drive a Mercedes. I want a nice apartment. I want to smoke good medical marijuana. I want to fuck beautiful women.”
“What is it that you do better than anyone else, may I ask?”
Atwater clapped his huge, fat hands. "I stink Dick. That’s what I do. I stink. To high heaven. And beyond.”
Atwater’s first job is to visit a lawyer who has long refused to pay what he owes to Henry.
The malodorous man handcuffs himself to a rail, swallows the key, and waits.
One would think being a stinker isn’t much of a job.
It is when you can collect the debt.
The whole cast provides endless entertainment, despite the titular tribulations of poor Dick Henry.
July 3, 2012
This is a man's book. But I really enjoyed it. Frankly, his female characters are alot less one dimensional than Hemingway's, even if he is just writing genre. Hemingway basically has Whore, Good Hearted Whore, Mother Figure and Madonna who may or may not be a whore. Hard boiled mysteries can be wonderful when done well. Tribulations of the Shortcut Man is done very well indeed. I initially read it because a client of mine reccommended it and because it was written by Preston Sturges's son. Loved that man's films, he died too young. This is second in the series, I'm going to go back and read the first one. The best noir mysteries,the McGee novels' depiction of Florida and in Raymond Chandler's books have an amazing sense of place. This book picks up with modern LA and its environs where Chandler left off. In the process he skeweres the ruthless celebrity culture and the emptiness of the "entertainment" trade. LA is a character in the book, a slightly seedy and hard but beloved character. There is also alot of wry and twisted humor, which brings to mind both the Travis McGee novels and Carl Hiassen's books. It's a good read. Reccommend for your next poolside read. It is not deep, but it's not badly written, just right for reading by the pool.
July 30, 2012
Do you like the old black and white crime dramas from the 1940's? You know the ones I mean, John Garfield, Bogart, Edward G. Robinson and Robert Mitchum? If you answered yes and you'd like to have more fun than you've ever had with your clothes on? Read this!
Have a tenant who won't pay the rent and won't move out without a court battle and endless lawyer fees? Call the Shortcut man. Your problem is solved usually the same day. A ruthless fly-by-night contractor ripping off old ladies and refusing to make good? The Short-cut man is your go-to guy. Not only will you get your money back it will include interest. This guy can fix anything. You'll love it as he cruises around LA in his '69 Coupe de Ville convertible "with the 472 cubic inch motor" making the miscreants miserable.
Have a tenant who won't pay the rent and won't move out without a court battle and endless lawyer fees? Call the Shortcut man. Your problem is solved usually the same day. A ruthless fly-by-night contractor ripping off old ladies and refusing to make good? The Short-cut man is your go-to guy. Not only will you get your money back it will include interest. This guy can fix anything. You'll love it as he cruises around LA in his '69 Coupe de Ville convertible "with the 472 cubic inch motor" making the miscreants miserable.
June 27, 2013
What Adam said, particulalry about frustration. Good mian charachter, best when he's bad, but it loses steam and coherence and eventually, attentiveness: in the end one of the main characters, a buffoon, is briefly mentioned as having committed suicide. As if the author was in a rush to finish. And who knew crack was still so popular?
March 26, 2012
Love me some west coast noir. This outing was not as straight forward as the first book -- the secondary plot line with the ex seemed like such an afterthought. And it was kind of a compelling story -- maybe should have been saved for its own book? But still a great, sad cast of characters and the dry wit of all true hardboiled dicks.
September 10, 2012
This sequel to "The Shortcut Man" was not quite as good as the first novel, but was still somewhat entertaining in its own way. It seemed the author sort of exhausted the Shortcut Man idea about midway through the novel and the book just limped home from there.
May 16, 2013
One of those rare cases for me where I liked the sequel just as much, if not more, than the original! The characters are great, the action is tight, and the plot just hums along! Good job Dick-Dave! :-)
September 12, 2014
Not bad, but it really felt like the author was trying to hard with a voice that wasn't naturally his.
He's no Ellroy or Chandler. The book hit all of the standard noir cliches, but lacked authenticity or realness.
It features a rushed, ending that feels just like an aside.
He's no Ellroy or Chandler. The book hit all of the standard noir cliches, but lacked authenticity or realness.
It features a rushed, ending that feels just like an aside.
February 28, 2012
Solid follow up to The Shortcut Man. Reminiscent of Chandler, Ellroy, and Leonard. Sturges knows L.A. and I look forward to next in series.
May 27, 2012
Sturges is truly a descendant of Chandler - prose is crisp and very "noir". Quick read - read it in 2 days. Recommend.
July 20, 2012
A fun, enjoyable read with lots of humor, interesting characters and a protagonist who is not always on the right side of the law.
December 3, 2013
Entertaining, if a little silly and formulaic.
July 12, 2014
Borders on the unplausable, but it doesn't matter. Just damn fun to read his neo noir writing.
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August 14, 2012Wry. Funny. LA. Clever, I like this guy
January 7, 2014
like the first one, I couldn't put it down. not for feminists, though.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews