What do you think?
Rate this book
Hickey Family Mystery #6
The Do-Re-Mi: A California Century Mystery, Book 4
It’s late summer 1972 in the redwood forests of northern California. It seems a safe and wondrous place, but some of the population of the town of Evergreen is growing pot in the trees, and others are bent on stealing it. Then there’s the coming folk festival, a jamboree bringing in musicians, music fans, war protesters, hippies, the Cossacks and other biker gangs, and the law, both local and federal. Skirting the edges are shades of the Manson family and the Mexican Mafia.
Clifford Hickey is scheduled to perform at the festival in what might be his last guitar gig before heading off to law school to please his father. He arrives at the peaceful woodland campsite of his brother Alvaro, but within moments six armed men in badges crash the camp, and Alvaro runs. Clifford is arrested and roughly handcuffed. One of the sheriffs’ nephews has been murdered, and Alvaro is the posse’s quarry.
When Clifford’s father and mother arrive on the scene, it’s the beginning of a confrontation between the Hickey family and the locals, including the Cossacks, who seemingly have their own agenda for Alvaro.
Clifford, on the brink of adult life, becomes embroiled not only in a murder case but also in what becomes a battle between the Hickeys and the law and, ultimately, the Hickeys and their own past.
Ken Kuhlken earned degrees in literature and writing and has been a columnist for the San Diego Reader. His stories have appeared in Esquire and Best American Short Stories, and he won the St. Martin’s Press / PWA Best First PI Novel Contest.
Clifford Hickey is scheduled to perform at the festival in what might be his last guitar gig before heading off to law school to please his father. He arrives at the peaceful woodland campsite of his brother Alvaro, but within moments six armed men in badges crash the camp, and Alvaro runs. Clifford is arrested and roughly handcuffed. One of the sheriffs’ nephews has been murdered, and Alvaro is the posse’s quarry.
When Clifford’s father and mother arrive on the scene, it’s the beginning of a confrontation between the Hickey family and the locals, including the Cossacks, who seemingly have their own agenda for Alvaro.
Clifford, on the brink of adult life, becomes embroiled not only in a murder case but also in what becomes a battle between the Hickeys and the law and, ultimately, the Hickeys and their own past.
Ken Kuhlken earned degrees in literature and writing and has been a columnist for the San Diego Reader. His stories have appeared in Esquire and Best American Short Stories, and he won the St. Martin’s Press / PWA Best First PI Novel Contest.
Audible Audio
First published November 1, 2006
16 people want to read
About the author
Ken Kuhlken
29 books43 followersKen Kuhlken's stories have appeared in ESQUIRE and numerous other magazines, been honorably mentioned in BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES, and earned a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship.
His novels include MIDHEAVEN, finalist for the Ernest Hemingway Award for best first fiction book, and the Hickey family mysteries: THE BIGGEST LIAR IN LOS ANGELES; THE GOOD KNOW NOTHING; THE VENUS DEAL; THE LOUD ADIOS, Private Eye Writers of America Press Best First PI Novel; THE ANGEL GANG; THE DO-RE-MI, finalist for the Shamus Best Novel Award; THE VAGABOND VIRGINS; THE VERY LEAST; and THE ANSWER TO EVERYTHING.
Hisfive-book saga FOR AMERICA, is together a long, long novel and an incantation, a work of magic created to postpone the end of the world for at least a thousand years.
His work in progress is a YA mystery.
His WRITING AND THE SPIRIT advises artists seeking inspiration. He guides readers on a trip to the Kingdom of Heaven in READING BROTHER LAWRENCE.
Also, he reads a lot, plays golf, watches and coaches baseball and softball, teaches at Perelandra College, and hangs out with his daughter when she comes home from her excellent college back east.
His novels include MIDHEAVEN, finalist for the Ernest Hemingway Award for best first fiction book, and the Hickey family mysteries: THE BIGGEST LIAR IN LOS ANGELES; THE GOOD KNOW NOTHING; THE VENUS DEAL; THE LOUD ADIOS, Private Eye Writers of America Press Best First PI Novel; THE ANGEL GANG; THE DO-RE-MI, finalist for the Shamus Best Novel Award; THE VAGABOND VIRGINS; THE VERY LEAST; and THE ANSWER TO EVERYTHING.
Hisfive-book saga FOR AMERICA, is together a long, long novel and an incantation, a work of magic created to postpone the end of the world for at least a thousand years.
His work in progress is a YA mystery.
His WRITING AND THE SPIRIT advises artists seeking inspiration. He guides readers on a trip to the Kingdom of Heaven in READING BROTHER LAWRENCE.
Also, he reads a lot, plays golf, watches and coaches baseball and softball, teaches at Perelandra College, and hangs out with his daughter when she comes home from her excellent college back east.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
May 8, 2013
THE DO-RE-MI offers something rather fresh and different to the hard-boiled detective genre. The story is that of Clifford Hickey, son of well-known detective Tom Hickey, being thrown into a murder investigation all his own. The setting (a Woodstock-esque music festival) is original, the supporting characters (mostly outlaw bikers and spaced-out hippies) are sufficiently quirky, the prose is excellent, and the mystery feels a whole lot less artificial than something by, say, Harlan Coben or James Patterson. And, if you like 70's folk rock, you'll probably have a soundtrack playing in the back of your mind the whole way through. THE DO-RE-MI is also interesting in that it tackles some deep spiritual themes without ever getting preachy or predictable the way most "Christian" novels do. Yes, the "Hickey Family Mystery series" might sound like something stupid made for the Hallmark channel, but, thankfully, the Hickeys aren't anything like the Waltons. Unless I'm forgetting an episode in which John-Boy Walton beat somebody to death with a tire iron.
Displaying 1 of 1 review