Smoke

by Stanley Wheeler

She walked in hotter and sweeter than a peppermint candy cane covered in white phosphorus. She had my attention and held it like a pup in a steel trap. I had never enjoyed a trap more. There was just one problem. She wanted me to find her husband.

She was the first woman to complicate my life that day. She wouldn’t be the last. The investigation soon took a sudden turn, just like the quarry road where her husband’s car didn’t. He challenged gravity and came in second. Was it murder or suicide? Was it a business rival, or the mob? Were they after the secret Nazi diamonds her husband had liberated at the end of the war? Either way, I had to walk carefully to avoid joining him on the wrong side of the grass.

295 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 1, 2018

Reviews

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an amusing and entertaining mystery. It's kind of a send-up of hardboiled detective fiction like the stuff written by Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. Set in the late 1940s, its main character is a WWII vet. He's also a bookstore owner, which is always a fun profession for a book character.

For reasons I've forgotten, a woman who wanders into his store one day mistakes him for a slightly famous detective who died recently. She's beautiful, so he pretends to be that detective, rather like Bob Hope's character in My Favorite Brunette (1947). Her husband has been murdered, and the bookstore owner is so entranced by her eyes that he can't remember her real name or any reasons why he shouldn't try to solve the mystery. Reasons like the fact that he doesn't have a detective license, has never solved a mystery, and doesn't carry a gun. But he does like to carry random books around with him -- he gleans helpful advice from them, which I found quite funny.

The story spins on a little longer than it needs to, and after a while, the stream of snappy retorts and cute metaphors gets a little tired. But the ending is satisfying and leaves open the possibility for a sequel or a series.

[Jerry Chick · Rating 5 out of 5]

The protagonist is a bookseller who is mistaken for a PI and is asked to find out who killed the woman's husband; even though its been ruled an accidental death. Couple that with two drop-dead gorgeous ladies, who are almost twins, and you get an interesting read. This story takes place shortly after WWII in, wait for it, L.A. I didn't figure out who "done it" until the very end; which is always good for a mystery story. The book shop owner cum PI is described as shorter than expected which is a running gag in the story. Overall, a very good read.

[Anthony Spencer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pleasantly surprised

I would not usually read a 1950s murder mystery. I only read this book because I enjoyed the authors western novel, Justice in Season. I actually ended up liking Smoke more than I liked Justice... Smoke is very well written. I loved the whit of the main character and therefore the whit of the author. Great read..

[Budd Trippet · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a noir novel with quite possibly the snappiest dialog I have read recently. There are some plot twists but I mostly enjoyed the wit and humor of the protagonist.

Stanley Wheeler also writes another series in a different alt history genre. I need to read those books.
also he is an entertaining blogger and reviewer.

Thanks for the fun read, Stanley!