Blood Type

John Marshall Tanner #8

by Stephen Greenleaf

Blood Type is Stephen Greenleaf's eighth mystery featuring hard-drinking, laconic San Francisco detective John Marshall Tanner, who has been called "the long-sought heir of Sam Spade, Marlowe, and Archer" (San Francisco Chronicle). And Tanner will need all his skills and courage to solve a case the reverberations of which could shake the country. Tom Crandall, war hero, social crusader, and Tanner's barroom confidant, lies dead in an abandoned alley in San Francisco's Tenderloin. The police call it suicide, but Tanner suspects that the affair Crandall's wife was having with millionaire corporate raider Richard Sands may have sealed Tom's fate. And as he investigates, Tanner begins to turn up suspicious clues that lead to the city's vulnerable blood supply, and to Crandall's homeless, paranoid brother, whose accusations are so wild and terrifying that even Tanner is shaken with fear. From the velvet-lined nightclubs of the Bay Area to the burned-out porn shops of the Tenderloin, Blood Type is a novel of greed and malevolence, complete with all the Greenleaf hallmarks: literate writing, satisfying characters, and crackling good dialogue. For fans both new and old, Blood Type is a mystery to chill the veins and quicken the heartbeat.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction

304 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Stephen Greenleaf got a B.A. from Carlton College in 1964 and a J.D. from the University of California at Berkely in 1967. Stephen Greenleaf served in the United States Army from 1967 through 1969, and was also admitted to the California Bar during that period, with subsequent numerous legal positions.

Stephen Greenleaf studied creative writing at the University of Iowa in 1978 and 1979, (the Iowa Writers Workshop) with the subsequent publication of his first Tanner novel in 1979. Mr. Greenleaf has written fourteen John Marshall Tanner books to date, with his latest being Ellipse. All the novels are situated in San Fransico, and Stephen Greenleaf also lives in northern California with his wife Ann.

Series:
* John Marshall Tanner Mystery

Reviews

[Glen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Entry in the John Marshall Tanner series.

A friend of Tanner's is killed. Somewhere, between a lot lame political cliches, there's a mystery about the drug approval process of the FDA.

[Eric_W · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tom Crandall is a certified hero. A medic who risked his life to save wounded soldiers during a firefight and at great risk pulled people from underneath a collapsed building following an earthquake, he spends his days on ambulance runs helping the dregs of San Francisco. His wife, Clarissa, is a singer, worried about her career as she approaches forty.

Tom and Marsh are periodic drinking buddies at Guido's. Tom sidles up to Marsh one evening distraught because his wife, Clarissa, is being pulled away from him by Richard Sands, a local millionaire who made his money in legal, but borderline ethical, leverage buyouts. It would appear he now wants to buyout Clarissa. Not much Marsh can do except to try and provide some emotional support. Then Tom is found dead in an abandoned bus terminal. Ruled accidental or suicide or a mugging, Marsh suspected something else but has no evidence to the contrary, so he does what he knows and does best: he talks to people, and, as is typical in P.I. novels in the style of MacDonald, he uncovers familial corruption.

Along the way, Marsh muses on the state of the world. In the midst of the first Iraq war and a changing Supreme Court, he marvels at "*this* brave new world, everyone's on his own and the Constitution is less a bill of rights than a bill of lading and the Court is as oblivious to misery as God. Except that God can be oblivious and still be God, but humans can't and still be human."

I really like Greenleaf, but I'm downgrading this one a bit because I thought the end seemed a bit rushed and perhaps deliberately ambiguous. At times, his background explanations can also seem pedantic. Nevertheless, a great way to spend some time.

[Rogue Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Working my way backwards through Greenleaf's John Marshall Tanner series which I know is a bit weird. This one explores the underside of San Francisco's polished urban and urbane veneer as Marsh presses his way through politics and society, drugs and diversions and urban development. Greenleaf updates the tired old 50s noir and a real pleasure to read.

Stephen Greenleaf, if you read this, write some more will you?

[Seth Kennedy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another well-crafted story, well-written and a page-turner until the end. But like some of the others in this series, this one sort of failed to come together in the end and the leap from building the case to having solved it strained credulity somewhat. I mean, the hints were there, but it was just a bit of a soft ending.

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

Did not like the abrupt ending. Wanted more scenes from the bar.

[Carl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting characters and plot.

[Maddy · Rating 4 out of 5]

RATING: 3.5

[Jesse Owens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not his best, by far, but such good writing, and precious observations. Story too stretched.

[Robert Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good writing. Especially with topics like poverty, mental illness, addiction, etc. PI John Marshall Tanner is as good as a PI can get. He says: "The Tenderloin is a walk on the wild side, a descent into the maelstrom, a long day's journey into night--I avoid it if I can. When I can't, I carry a gun."

[Alejandrina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written, with political commentary. Accurate descriptions of the Tenderloin district in San Francisco, from what I remember seeing. The issue is I did not believe the story, but maybe it's naivete. Worth the read.

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great evocation of San Francisco in the early '90s. (I know, I was there.) Good plot, great characters.