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Mike Faraday
Scratch on the Dark
Mike Faraday, private investigator is back on the job – this time wandering into the world of Hollywood, that elusive elite society that L.A. revolves around.
Dr. Nathan Crisp asks Faraday to find his beautiful yet wandering wife, former famous movie star Zarah Fayne. Crisp makes it clear that there’s no love lost between the two, but Fayne has made off with some money.
Now it’s Faraday’s job to track it down.
While trying to figure out this newest mystery in the way only the sardonic detective can, he uncovers a trail that leads to a million-dollar Hollywood racket in pornographic films.
The trail takes him from Jet Studios to Caribou Lake and, as always, bullets fly and murder will out.
Meanwhile, Mike finds himself surrounded by a host of characters, but who can he trust?
There’s Carol Foster, and the lovely Denise Silverman also takes his eye. And then there’s Starr, the cold professional killer, with Faraday in her sights…
Will Faraday make it out of this one with his life?
He will have to rely on his quick wit, gritty work ethic, and the connections he’s made over the years, including his ally McGiver in the LAPD, to solve this newest case and once again uncover what is really going on behind the scenes.
But as the case complicates itself, Faraday keeps digging for the truth, and discovers almost more than he can handle…
Scratch on the Dark is a gripping mystery thriller that you won’t be able to put down.
:
“Hard-boiled thrillers” – The Guardian
“an indefatigable talesmith in the Lovecraftian vein” – Kirkus Reviews
“[Copper has] achieved a truly poignant view of the macabre.” – Science Fiction and Fantasy Review
“his macabre writings have stood alongside the best work of his contemporaries” – The Black Abyss review blog
“lures the reader into a web of gothic splendour and macabre happenings” – Rising Shadow
“well-worth reading for its eerie atmosphere, wonderfully-described underground horrors, and growing tension” – Skulls in the Stars review blog
Basil Copper (1924-2013) was a British author. He wrote several horror and detective stories, and novels. He was perhaps best known for his series of Solar Pons stories continuing the character created as a tribute to Sherlock Holmes by August Derleth.
Dr. Nathan Crisp asks Faraday to find his beautiful yet wandering wife, former famous movie star Zarah Fayne. Crisp makes it clear that there’s no love lost between the two, but Fayne has made off with some money.
Now it’s Faraday’s job to track it down.
While trying to figure out this newest mystery in the way only the sardonic detective can, he uncovers a trail that leads to a million-dollar Hollywood racket in pornographic films.
The trail takes him from Jet Studios to Caribou Lake and, as always, bullets fly and murder will out.
Meanwhile, Mike finds himself surrounded by a host of characters, but who can he trust?
There’s Carol Foster, and the lovely Denise Silverman also takes his eye. And then there’s Starr, the cold professional killer, with Faraday in her sights…
Will Faraday make it out of this one with his life?
He will have to rely on his quick wit, gritty work ethic, and the connections he’s made over the years, including his ally McGiver in the LAPD, to solve this newest case and once again uncover what is really going on behind the scenes.
But as the case complicates itself, Faraday keeps digging for the truth, and discovers almost more than he can handle…
Scratch on the Dark is a gripping mystery thriller that you won’t be able to put down.
:
“Hard-boiled thrillers” – The Guardian
“an indefatigable talesmith in the Lovecraftian vein” – Kirkus Reviews
“[Copper has] achieved a truly poignant view of the macabre.” – Science Fiction and Fantasy Review
“his macabre writings have stood alongside the best work of his contemporaries” – The Black Abyss review blog
“lures the reader into a web of gothic splendour and macabre happenings” – Rising Shadow
“well-worth reading for its eerie atmosphere, wonderfully-described underground horrors, and growing tension” – Skulls in the Stars review blog
Basil Copper (1924-2013) was a British author. He wrote several horror and detective stories, and novels. He was perhaps best known for his series of Solar Pons stories continuing the character created as a tribute to Sherlock Holmes by August Derleth.
125 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 30, 2014
8 people are currently reading
47 people want to read
About the author
Basil Copper
184 books41 followersBasil Copper was an English writer and former journalist and newspaper editor. He has written over 50 books and scripts. In addition to fantasy and horror, Copper is known for his series of Solar Pons stories continuing the character created by August Derleth.
Copper edited a 1982 two-volume omnibus collection of Derleth's stories of the 'Pontine' canon, published by Arkham House, a publishing firm founded by Derleth himself and chiefly publishing weird fiction (such as Cthulhu Mythos tales); in that edition, Copper "edited" most of the tales in ways that many Pontine aficionados found objectionable[citation needed]. A later omnibus, The Original Text Solar Pons Omnibus Edition, was issued in 2000 under the imprint of Mycroft & Moran (a name which is itself a Holmesian jest).
He also wrote the long-running hard-boiled detective stories of "Mike Faraday" (58 novels from 1966 to 1988).
Copper has received many honours in recent years. In 1979, the Mark Twain Society of America elected him a Knight of Mark Twain for his outstanding "contribution to modern fiction", while the Praed Street Irregulars have twice honoured him for his work on the Solar Pons series. He has been a member of the Crime Writer's Association for over thirty years, serving as chairman in 1981/82 and on its committee for a total of seven years.
In early 2008, a bio-bibliography was published on him: Basil Copper: A Life in Books, compiled and edited by Stephen Jones.
In March 2010, Darkness, Mist and Shadow: The Collected Macabre Tales of Basil Copper was launched at the Brighton World Horror Convention as a two-volume set by PS Publishing.
Copper edited a 1982 two-volume omnibus collection of Derleth's stories of the 'Pontine' canon, published by Arkham House, a publishing firm founded by Derleth himself and chiefly publishing weird fiction (such as Cthulhu Mythos tales); in that edition, Copper "edited" most of the tales in ways that many Pontine aficionados found objectionable[citation needed]. A later omnibus, The Original Text Solar Pons Omnibus Edition, was issued in 2000 under the imprint of Mycroft & Moran (a name which is itself a Holmesian jest).
He also wrote the long-running hard-boiled detective stories of "Mike Faraday" (58 novels from 1966 to 1988).
Copper has received many honours in recent years. In 1979, the Mark Twain Society of America elected him a Knight of Mark Twain for his outstanding "contribution to modern fiction", while the Praed Street Irregulars have twice honoured him for his work on the Solar Pons series. He has been a member of the Crime Writer's Association for over thirty years, serving as chairman in 1981/82 and on its committee for a total of seven years.
In early 2008, a bio-bibliography was published on him: Basil Copper: A Life in Books, compiled and edited by Stephen Jones.
In March 2010, Darkness, Mist and Shadow: The Collected Macabre Tales of Basil Copper was launched at the Brighton World Horror Convention as a two-volume set by PS Publishing.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 9, 2017
Throughout pulp novels of the forties and fifties, which Copper deliberately emulates in this series, rich girls and starlets being blackmailed with pornographic movies or photos was a familiar plot. By 1967, when this novel was published, such things were not quite as shocking. Here, Copper solidly plants his Hardboiled PI Mike Faraday in Hollywood and, more specifically, on the sets of the big name Tinseltown studios. Investigating the disappearance of a movie star rumored to be not only promiscuous but actually sex crazy, Faraday stumbles into a world of murder and greed and blackmail.
This book is solidly cynical and hardboiled and has some rather amusing descriptions of the kinds of characters inhabiting Hollywood and Hollywood parties. Some of the characters include the blonde receptionist with pale pink fingernails and a figure not too hard on the eyeballs who types with two fingers and the old, washed up film editor/ artist with saliva dripping down his chin whose walls were covered with paintings of such vivid color that made you think someone's intestines had been spilled in a car accident. How about a plump blonde dressed as Louis B Mayer's idea of a saloon girl of the
1870s was like, but twenty years too old for the part. There is a real cynicism about movie stars and their sleazy managers and hangers on that just drips from the pages.
This is another fun, fast read in the Faraday series that does a good job of paying homage to the PI stories of an earlier era. It even has a scene where all the suspects are gathered in a room while Faraday expounds on his theories of the case. All in all, a good, solid read.
This book is solidly cynical and hardboiled and has some rather amusing descriptions of the kinds of characters inhabiting Hollywood and Hollywood parties. Some of the characters include the blonde receptionist with pale pink fingernails and a figure not too hard on the eyeballs who types with two fingers and the old, washed up film editor/ artist with saliva dripping down his chin whose walls were covered with paintings of such vivid color that made you think someone's intestines had been spilled in a car accident. How about a plump blonde dressed as Louis B Mayer's idea of a saloon girl of the
1870s was like, but twenty years too old for the part. There is a real cynicism about movie stars and their sleazy managers and hangers on that just drips from the pages.
This is another fun, fast read in the Faraday series that does a good job of paying homage to the PI stories of an earlier era. It even has a scene where all the suspects are gathered in a room while Faraday expounds on his theories of the case. All in all, a good, solid read.
August 28, 2017
I really liked this book although it was a bit long in places. I enjoyed the writing it was as if it was written in the glory days of hollywood. But I do feel it was a bit long and got boring in spots. But overall a good read. It really took me a long time to read it which is unusual for me , but I did finish it and kept going back to it because I wanted to see how it ended.
July 14, 2017
Throughout pulp novels of the forties and fifties, which Copper deliberately emulates in this series, rich girls and starlets being blackmailed with pornographic movies or photos was a familiar plot. By 1967, when this novel was published, such things were not quite as shocking. Here, Copper solidly plants his Hardboiled PI Mike Faraday in Hollywood and, more specifically, on the sets of the big name Tinseltown studios. Investigating the disappearance of a movie star rumored to be not only promiscuous but actually sex crazy, Faraday stumbles into a world of murder and greed and blackmail.
This book is solidly cynical and hardboiled and has some rather amusing descriptions of the kinds of characters inhabiting Hollywood and Hollywood parties. Some of the characters include the blonde receptionist with pale pink fingernails and a figure not too hard on the eyeballs who types with two fingers and the old, washed up film editor/ artist with saliva dripping down his chin whose walls were covered with paintings of such vivid color that made you think someone's intestines had been spilled in a car accident. How about a plump blonde dressed as Louis B Mayer's idea of a saloon girl of the 1870s was like, but twenty years too old for the part. There is a real cynicism about movie stars and their sleazy managers and hangers on that just drips from the pages.
This is another fun, fast read in the Faraday series that does a good job of paying homage to the PI stories of an earlier era. It even has a scene where all the suspects are gathered in a room while Faraday expounds on his theories of the case. All in all, a good, solid read.
This book is solidly cynical and hardboiled and has some rather amusing descriptions of the kinds of characters inhabiting Hollywood and Hollywood parties. Some of the characters include the blonde receptionist with pale pink fingernails and a figure not too hard on the eyeballs who types with two fingers and the old, washed up film editor/ artist with saliva dripping down his chin whose walls were covered with paintings of such vivid color that made you think someone's intestines had been spilled in a car accident. How about a plump blonde dressed as Louis B Mayer's idea of a saloon girl of the 1870s was like, but twenty years too old for the part. There is a real cynicism about movie stars and their sleazy managers and hangers on that just drips from the pages.
This is another fun, fast read in the Faraday series that does a good job of paying homage to the PI stories of an earlier era. It even has a scene where all the suspects are gathered in a room while Faraday expounds on his theories of the case. All in all, a good, solid read.
February 1, 2017
A good old fashioned private dick in LA in Hollywood with a film noir atmosphere. Fun to read and a breath of fresh hair from all the slick novels about sociopaths,psychopaths and serial killers I have been reading.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews