Capriati's Blood

Alton Rhode Mysteries #1

by Lawrence De Maria

Alton Rhode is recently back from military duty, recovering from wounds, when a beautiful woman asks him to find the bank-embezzler lover who fathered her daughter and disappeared 14 years earlier. The man, she says, doesn’t know about his child but may hold the key to saving her life. Rhode, whose private investigation business withered when his reserve unit was called up, takes the case, although it seems hopeless. If the F.B.I. can’t find the father, how can he? That turns out to be the least of Rhode’s problems, as he almost immediately becomes the target of a deranged mobster. He only survives because a mysterious guardian angel – with an automatic pistol – is watching his back. It soon becomes apparent that nothing is as it seems. Bodies pile up as Rhode’s search takes him from a college campus to a nursing home to a Florida orange grove. And, finally, to a revelation he never sees coming.

Genres: Mystery

237 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 20, 2013

Reviews

[John Calia · Rating 5 out of 5]

An alternate title might well be The Diary of a New York Wiseass. The protagonist’s dry sarcasm kept me chuckling from start to finish.

Told in the first person, private detective Alton Rhode comes across as clever, courageous, and endlessly resourceful—with a streak of good fortune that seems to attract beautiful women. That combination makes him fun to follow, though some readers may find his confidence (and romantic luck) a bit much.

The heart of the story is a compelling puzzle: Rhode is hired to find the long-lost father of a child who desperately needs a bone marrow transplant. It’s both a noble mission and a lucrative one for his fledgling investigations firm. But his search quickly draws the attention of the Mafia, raising the stakes and deepening the mystery. Why are they so interested in his case—and why do they want him dead?

The story builds to a smart, satisfying twist that caught me off guard and left me wanting more. Luckily, this is just Book #1 in the series—so there is more to come.

[Nancy Steinle gummel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Caprioti's Blood by Lawrence De Maria is an enjoyable book. It begins with a beautiful woman entering Alton Rhode's office requesting his services. She wants to hire him to locate Bill Caprioti, her daughter's father. Her name is Ellen James and she claims her daughter, Savannah has lukemia and needs a bone marrow transplant. Alton's on a mission to find Bill. He asks for help from Cormac Levine, a policeman who owes Alton big time. Alton heads to Florida and eventually finds Bill.

[Silver Screen Videos · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you ever saw a picture of Lawrence De Maria's Alton Rhode, the protagonist of Capriati's Blood, it might come with a caption "Generic Fictional PI." Rhode's character fits the typical gumshoe resume to a T, down to the last cliche. He's an ex-cop with a biting, sarcastic wit, struggling financially, with a penchant for beautiful women and a tendency to find himself the target of a stray bullet or fist every few chapters. In fact, although I just finished Capriati's Blood a few days ago, the only thing I remember about his character is that he either went to bed with or was propositioned by every female character under retirement age in the book. But, although Rhode's character is very familiar, author De Maria make the book original enough in other ways so that it’s a fairly enjoyable read as a whole.

Rhode operates in Staten Island, a borough of New York that's rarely the setting for books of any sort, and he's managed to make the acquaintance of about everyone important on both sides of the law on the island. Rhode lands a very familiar type of case, finding the long missing ex-boyfriend of an attractive actress named Ellen James, with a most unexpected twist. Ellen has a daughter by the titular Mr. Capriati, who ran out on her 14 years earlier, and their daughter has cancer. Further, Capriati may well be the only matching bone marrow donor they can locate in time. Since Capriati went to college on Staten Island, Ellen decides to hire a local PI to dig into his background.

Needless to say, there's more to the case than first meets the eye. It seems that Capriati was friends in college with the man who's now the head of the local Italian mob and that Capriati's disappearance may have a mob connection. And, not surprisingly the investigation results in attacks on Rhode and a dead body turning up. However, despite the familiar elements, the solution to the mystery is quite unusual, involving a twist that I both completely didn’t see coming and that I can’t recall having seen before. Plus, Rhode proves to be a shrewd, methodical investigator and not merely someone who stumbles around for a few chapters until the case solves itself.

Capriati's Blood offers some other reading pleasures as well. Author De Maria is a former journalist who got his start on a Staten Island newspaper (his first assignment, at the local courthouse, wound up with him meeting Roy Cohn and John Gotti), and the author’s knowledge of the borough shows up in some highly entertaining descriptions in the book. I especially enjoyed the scenes set in a local pub that the local cops and mobsters both frequented, often literally bumping into each other. Also, as befits a wise-cracking private eye, the author gives character Rhode a lot of clever quips and putdowns.

Of course, those quips and putdowns come at the expense of a couple of highly convenient foils. De Maria goes out of his way to create a couple of obnoxious jerks, a college professor and a medical bureaucrat, whose only function in the book seems to be to serve as Rhode’s verbal punching bags. Those two buffoons are merely part of a larger pattern in the book in which situations resolve themselves in highly unlikely and even more highly convenient manners for Rhode. In particular, the manner in which Rhode gets through his final showdown with the book’s villain is the literary equivalent of air escaping a leaking balloon.

Overall, the clever central mystery, the wit, and the evocative descriptions all through the book make Capriati's Blood an enjoyable read, despite the stock characters and ridiculous contrivance at the end. I sense that the author wanted to keep this book short (it is barely over 200 pages) and, for that reason, took some shortcuts. Since Capriati's Blood is the first in a series of Rhode novels (none of the others of which I have read), this just might be some growing pains on the author’s, and the character’s part. As for the present book, Capriati's Blood may be formulaic, but De Maria does a good job of following the formula.

[Roddy Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

This came as a bit of a shock since I had no prior knowledge of the author and bought a five volume Alton Rhode edition on a whim.
Alton Rhode is an ex-military Private Eye based in Staten Island, helped in his work by some good (and some dodgy) connections in the police and other official bodies.
Having nothing much more to investigate than the poison pen letters being sent to his neighbours, he is heartened by being offered a missing persons case. An attractive woman asks Rhode to find her missing husband, Billy Capriati, since he may be a match for their daughter who is in desperate need of a marrow donor.
And so Rhode embarks on the case, finding himself first followed and then threatened by mobsters who, it would seem, are not keen for Capriati to be found.
What I love about de Maria's style is that the humour (which is precise, witty and very clever) is excellently handled and employed sparingly.
Characterisation is good. One can visualise de Maria's cast members within a minute of them appearing on the page, and that is not a feat that many authors can pull off. They have their own distinct voices and mannerisms and come alive fairly quickly. I should also point out that I am a Welshman living in London and have only visited Staten Island once, very briefly, in 1998 and therefore can claim no personal knowledge of the area, yet the author from my limited perspective manages to paint the area well and evoke a real sense of place.
Some reviews have suggested that Alton Rhode is a cliche; a generic private eye who wisecracks his way into women's hearts and trouble, but ends up getting his man. There is some truth in that, but then, one could argue that the non-generic private eye has long been a cliche of oddness, where writers have given us blind detectives, singing detectives with psoriasis, alcoholic detectives, serial killers and detectives in wheelchairs.
It's nice to go back to a mould sometimes.
The plot is well thought through with some twists and turns and a more than satisfying denouement.
This is a very enjoyable and competently written piece of work which deserves far more credit than it has received thus far.
I am very much looking forward to the next installment.

[Reba · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full of intrigue

Alton Rhode, a PI hired to find a man who has been missing for 15 years. There are almost no clues as to where he is....no address, no photos. While searching for the missing Billy Capriati, Alton gets into plenty of trouble with both the Italian and Russian mobs.and
I have this book only three stars because of the many errors.

[jospeh jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Want a spectacular, intensely , enjoyable book? Buy this now!

So many times I buy a mystery book and I realize it was a true mystery, I finally was able find its end! In other words , too many awful books out there. Not this book, it is great, go buy it now! This au

[Gary Scialdone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good noir private eye yarn

Likable PI gets involved with the mafia and the Russian mob on Staten Island. Glib, noir dialogue, femme fatales, a clever p!ot and goid local color. Its a fun read.

[paulette sarelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good story

This story kept you guessing until the end! Loved the main character. He seemed tough but had a good sense of humor. Would love to read more with the main character.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

As some reviewer pointed out, this is a shade like a Chandler tale only the PI is a touch more soft boiled than Marlowe. Certainly no worse for that. A good read and a well-formed piece of escapism. The light-hearted asides entertain without becoming irksome as sometimes happens when it's overdone. Alton Rhode is an easy man to pass a little time with. This is not great literature but perfect if you've got to wait at an airport or head out on a long flight.

[Sherry · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a solid whodunnit with a PI, Alton Rhode's who is somewhat reminiscent of Chandler's Phillip Marlowe -- the noble PI who goes out on a limb to save a damsel in distress. In this case it is a pair of damsels, mother and daughter. He gets beat up a lot by gangs of thugs, etc. Nicely written, I would read another in this series. A part of my Kindle subscription

[Joe Vitucci · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good read, good plot, a man with scruples against the world, including the mob, college profs (the worst scoundrels anywhere bar none), actresses who scam him, it goes on and on. how can one, an injured vet turned private eye, triumph against these odds? read the book to find out!
not the best novel ever written. who cares? I want entertainment.

[Robbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book - don't know why it took me so long to get around to reading it. The main character was likable, amusing and smart. Very nice twist to this one. I rate it 4.8 stars. I'm starting the next in the series this evening.

[Lin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Capriati's Blood

This was an exciting book . Great sense of humor (in all the right places) and a good plot. I always try to solve the mystery myself but I didn't see this ending coming!

[Fred · Rating 4 out of 5]

Witty and enjoyable murder mystery.

[Shirley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good read with organized crime theme. This would make a good movie!