Death and the Language of Happiness

Cecil Younger #4

by John Straley

A private investigator working out of Sitka, in the Alaskan coastal archipelago, Cecil Younger walks a narrow line between the truth and what his clients pay him to find....

Cecil Younger is a man who takes comfort in the absurdity of the universe.  And the universe is obliging him, with a joint phone call from his lawyer and his shrink, to convey a job offer from another all Cecil has to do is kill a man.

Though common sense tells him murder just isn't a good career move, his finances tell him it can't hurt to meet his potential client.  The decision will lead Cecil from a pathetic small-time murder to a decades-old slaughter that is still reaching into the present--and its dark and chilly grasp may extend to Cecil Younger himself....

Genres: Mystery, Detective, Crime, Fiction, Audiobook, Thriller

268 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published August 5, 1999

About the author

Novelist John Straley has worked as a secretary, horseshoer, wilderness guide, trail crew foreman, millworker, machinist and private investigator. He moved to Sitka, Alaska in 1977 and has no plans of leaving. John's wife, Jan Straley, is a marine biologist well-known for her extensive studies of humpback whales.

Reviews

[William · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the first part in Alaska but then it skipped locals and characters gaily and without much reason. Got off on some side tracks like the main character's road trip to Centralia Washington that just were not part of the story but just filler. In fact the second half of the book was disjointed and poor in my opinion.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm glad to see Straley back on track after "Music". This may be the strongest in the series yet.

Without giving up too much information - Straley keeps you in the dark as long as possible, so he certainly wouldn't be happy with egregious spoilers from a reviewer - I'll say that part of the appeal of "Happiness" is that the story is based on a historical event, and Straley gives details in an author's afterword.

I've said before that Straley can be vague and ambiguous, at the same time a strength and a weakness. Sometimes ambiguities are cleared up in the next paragraph or the next chapter, but some still remain after the final page. There were some loose ends with "Happiness" - for example, how did David know where to find Cecil after he'd been hit in the head and left overnight in an abandoned drive-in theater? - but overall the wrapup was satisfactory.

Todd is one of my favorite characters, and he played a significant role in this one. We get a little bit better acquainted with Dickie Stein, as well as Cecil's new love interest, Jane Marie. Her being an independent whale watcher/scientist, given to making lengthy expeditions alone, is a convenient plot device that allows Cecil to go off on his own investigations, in this case to the Aleutians and to Centralia, WA (south of Seattle).

The strong sense of place, southeastern Alaska, and its associated culture is a major reason to enjoy Straley's novels, his Alaska noir.

[Art · Rating 4 out of 5]

When a young woman is shot, the old man accused of murdering her asks Cecil Younger to help him.

He wants to find the woman's husband. But he also is looking for other people and other answers, which lead to a wonderful literary road-trip for Cecil and his 42-year-old autistic roommate, Todd.

This is the best in the series yet. Where Alaska was the star of the first book in the series, Younger has grown into the starring role by now.

He still may be the world's worst detective, but he is a wonderful fictional character. And Starley's writing continues to set these books apart.

[Meg Onthemove Reading · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I loath the cover art on this version of the book - my own has a view of small boats in a harbour at sunset - in this case it is absolutely true that a book should not be judged by it's cover.

This is a superior murder mystery that appears at the outset to be a slam dunk, but of course is not. Private Detective Cecil Younger is asked by the acused's lawyer to look into whether he was capable of undertaking a murder or too confused at 96 to know what he was doing. Cecil sets out upon his task across the Alaskan scenery and with a fascinating group of characters in tow: Toddy his unworldly ward; Bobby the one armed son of a neighbor; all of them deftly created and handled and with a knack of getting our anti-hero into deep trouble.

The novel turns on some deep historical facts about the Wobbly's - a Marxist/communist/unionist group in the US after the First World War ... And something I had only vague recollections of reading about in Dekka Mitford's books.

Straley is very good at tying it all together into a sparse and naturalistic Alaskan wilderness and creating an interesting, involving plot that keeps you guessing.

[Chi Dubinski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cecil Younger is a private eye in Alaska, and truth be told, a not very good private eye. He hasn’t worked in three months, and has had problems with alcohol in the past. But someone approaches Cecil with some work—all he has to do is locate and kill a man. He’s not a hit man, but could use the money he’ll get for locating the man. The victim-to-be is Simon Delaney, whose wife, Angela Ramirez, was recently shot dead in her bathtub. William Flynn, a 97 year old man in a nursing home, is offering the contract. Angela used to visit him, and the local police have their eye on Flynn as a suspect. David Ramirez, Angela’s father, also attempts to hire Cecil to locate Delaney. If “Alaska State Troopers” was a detective show, it would be a novel by John Straley. Everyone has a past, and everyone makes bad choices. Lots of local color and most of it doesn’t have to do with nature.

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book had no real storyline and the main character, Cecil Younger, never takes action; things just happen to him or he witnesses them. It is the author's job to make you care about the events in the book, and Straley did not do this. I don't know what the author was trying to do by linking the two major events in the book. The description on the book's jacket makes the story seem riveting, but it's not.

I randomly found this book in the library, and I liked the cover. I was intrigued to read a book that takes place in Alaska, but this book was not a good find, unfortunately.

[Sean Bills · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a bit of a slog to get through in parts. Our lead is also just pushed around and not much of an influence on the story himself. That said, the characters, the setting, the historical relevance brought to the mystery, and the wholesomeness that comes out of such a twisted history and murder really were inspiring.

"As I flipped the pancakes and listened to the racket of children blowing their paper horns, I thought about how much there was in this life I didn't deserve: both good and bad."

[Joyce · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fifteen years ago my husband and I were in a bookstore in Sitka, Alaska, and found this mystery series. I read the first of them when we got home. We are going back to Alaska soon and I have a few more of these to read. This one ties into real events in Centralia, Washington, in 1919. I could see where it was headed early on but the journey was still enjoyable. Cecil's adventures in hitchhiking were especially fun to read.

[Alan Spinrad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slightly more cohesive than other Cecil Younger yarns and improved by link to historical events. Straley´s portrayal of those just getting by, and his descrptions of places remain strong, even though not particularly uplifting.

[Jacinta Carter · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was just okay. The main character hasn't really had any growth from the first book to this one, and the two interesting characters introduced in the third book were barely in this one. As for the plot, I pretty much forgot what the mystery was within five minutes of finishing the book.

[Clara · Rating 4 out of 5]

An earlier novel in Straley’s Cecil Younger series that I somehow managed to miss. Always a pleasure to read Straley’s poetic and vivid language and to frequent the absurdity of his universe.

[Kathy Huffey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Audiobook, did not enjoy this one.

[Lynette · Rating 4 out of 5]

So glad I didn't quit on this series - I like each one a little more than the previous one...

[Susan Coley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had to pay attention with this one. Lots of details to miss.

[Linda Gaines · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as some of his others

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite the contrast to the typical detective-with-super-powers novel ... this guy stumbles through it all, suffers humiliations, but stays charming and uncovers the secrets in the end.

[Karen Hamilton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little confusing because I'm not familiar with the history, but a good story anyway.

[Lulu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this fallible detective and his circle of friends especially the quirky Toddy. Especially enjoyed this side based on historical events.

[Sandy Carmichael · Rating 2 out of 5]

This author has a strange way of writing, some of his books are good and others so-so; this one is so-so, too political for me.

[Susan Kelley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cecil Younger is a P.I. in a small town in Alaska. He doesn't get a lot of work considering his wherabouts, and he really tends to screw up a lot. So why would 97 year old William Flynn want to hire him to kill a man? And why did Flynn do it through Younger's shrink and lawyer?

Working on the advice of his lawyer and psychiatrist (& the fact that he is so many payments behind on his house that the realtors are fighting for it!), Cecil takes the job. Now he really doesn't want to kill anyone, but just maybe he can solve a few mysteries along the way.

This book had a lot of potential. There was a present-day murder to be solved, as well as some missing people from 1919. Unfortunately, Straley spends so much time writing about the labor movement and the Armistice Day massacre that the story gets a little lost.

The cast of characters was very interesting: recovering addict P.I. And the girl who loves him, emotionally disabled roommate (and charge) Toddy, 97 year old codger who may or may not be crazy, murderous father-in-law, Union supporters, etc. I would have preferred learning more about them than about the history of unionization. Someone with strong union ties would probably be fascinated by this book. I was not. However, finding out who the murderer was and the identity of several people kept me reading. It is also a fairly short book, so it didn't hang me up for long. My rating: 2/5.

[Charles Kerns · Rating 4 out of 5]

one sad book. All seems going to hell thru the first half. It tries to be a meditation on Wobblie/Northwest US history, but the present day events are too burdensome to stay fixed on the past. Cecil, the not-so-effective private investigator, starts drinking and popping pills, heads off to hell-forsaken (that's really bad) islands and--even worse--Centralia Washingon, his autistic charge is failing even at a MacDonalds clone, the townspeople are drunk, disorderly, and murderous, the cops have Cecil's name, and a woman has a big hole in her. His new lady is off chasing whales, too--I forgot that. There is less wonderment at nature--still many eagles, but not so many bears. The wonder is focused on human animals, and they are a poor second to the furry, feathery ones. But you don't need to solve crimes in a mystery when animals do them. (OK, there was the hound of the Baskervilles but it had human prompting. And there was that trained snake that came down the bell cord, too--but Cecil doesn't care if a bear eats anyone, trained or not)

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another selection from my Alaska Bookshelf. This was not at all what I expected. John Straley is an excellent writer but his strange book titles gave me a different idea of what he would be like. The story as I found out in the end was based on actual events that the author, as they usually do, blended into a novel narritive. He put the story together and described the charaters and locales well. A good idea of Sitka and the Aluthians. I am looking forward to the other "Cecil Younger" title that i have on the shelf.

[Rhonda Sleighter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cecil is an interesting character, but the others didn't grab me. Although the event upon which the book is based peaked my interest, it wasn't enough to make the story interesting. It's the first Straley book I've read, and I'll read another. Since I'm familiar with Sitka, I enojoyed the setting.

[Bob Cook · Rating 2 out of 5]

What did I think? I think I pretty well blew off a winter afternoon and evening on a story that is at once pretentious and silly. It's too clever by half. I think I'm on to a real book with real writing.

[Diane Large · Rating 3 out of 5]

This mystery is based on a true event that happened in Sitka, Alaska so I found that aspect of the story interesting. Straley does a good job of giving you a complete history of each of his characters.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very quick read - mystery set in Sitka Alaska and Centralia, Washington and dealing with a lynching which took part in Centralia. # 4 in the Cecil Younger, a somewhat bumbling Sitka based private investigator series. Cosy mystery genre.

[Linda · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not my kind of book. Will finish if I don't get hopelessly confused.

[Gordon Gravley · Rating 3 out of 5]

My least favorite of the Cecil Younger series. It was based on an actual event, and the book concludes with a dry, non-fictional account of what happened.

[Eliana]

Set in the Pacific Northwest, really well written mysteries.

[Eldon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I pick up one of the Straley mysteries every year when I am in Sitka, his hometown, at Old Harbor Books. Always a treat. Read this one again. It's OK but Straley should stick to Alaska stories.