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Harry and Dizzy Lark #1
Bayou City Burning
-Houston, 1961
Texas’ slickest politician loses his presidential bid to a good-looking naval hero from Massachusetts. President Kennedy wants to put a man on the moon, and the Freedom Riders are raising morale for local civil rights activists.
Sleepy backwater Houston finds itself short on air conditioning just when things are heating up. In a seedy downtown office, a well-dressed out-of-towner hires P.I. Harry Lark to tail two D.C. visitors looking to build NASA a space center.
The more Harry finds, the more he suspects he’s working for the wrong side, and vows to wash his hands of the case. Meanwhile, Harry’s twelve-year-old daughter Dizzy is puzzling over a mystery of her own—she’s running a lost-and-found out of a suburban garage and is unexpectedly hired to find a missing dad who’s supposed to be dead and buried.
When Harry’s client turns up dead in his office, and mobsters start hounding him for cash, Harry realizes he needs all the help he can get—even if it comes from his daughter. As Harry and Dizzy’s cases converge, one thing is clear: someone wants Houston to look like a lawless Wild West Cowtown.
Together, Harry and Dizzy are going to find out who.
Texas’ slickest politician loses his presidential bid to a good-looking naval hero from Massachusetts. President Kennedy wants to put a man on the moon, and the Freedom Riders are raising morale for local civil rights activists.
Sleepy backwater Houston finds itself short on air conditioning just when things are heating up. In a seedy downtown office, a well-dressed out-of-towner hires P.I. Harry Lark to tail two D.C. visitors looking to build NASA a space center.
The more Harry finds, the more he suspects he’s working for the wrong side, and vows to wash his hands of the case. Meanwhile, Harry’s twelve-year-old daughter Dizzy is puzzling over a mystery of her own—she’s running a lost-and-found out of a suburban garage and is unexpectedly hired to find a missing dad who’s supposed to be dead and buried.
When Harry’s client turns up dead in his office, and mobsters start hounding him for cash, Harry realizes he needs all the help he can get—even if it comes from his daughter. As Harry and Dizzy’s cases converge, one thing is clear: someone wants Houston to look like a lawless Wild West Cowtown.
Together, Harry and Dizzy are going to find out who.
390 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2019
About the author
D.B. Borton
19 books48 followersD. B. Borton is a Professor Emeritus of English at Ohio Wesleyan University and now a full-time writer. Specializing in humorous mysteries, she has published eleven mystery novels in two series, the Cat Caliban series (Berkley, Hilliard and Harris) and the Gilda Liberty series (Fawcett), as well as the mystery novel SMOKE (Boomerang) and the humorous science fiction novel SECOND COMING (Boomerang). Her latest mystery, BAYOU CITY BURNING (Boomerang), was published in June 2019.
A native of Houston, Texas, Borton became an ardent admirer of Nancy Drew at a young age. At the age of fourteen, she acquired her own blue roadster, trained on the freeways of Houston and the broad stretches of oil-endowed Texas highway, and began her travels.
She has lived in the Southwest and Midwest and on the West Coast, where she has collected three degrees in English without relinquishing her affection for the expressiveness of the everyday language that real people speak. Her research skills and her ear for language both serve her well in mysteries set in realistic places and featuring characters with authentic voices.
A native of Houston, Texas, Borton became an ardent admirer of Nancy Drew at a young age. At the age of fourteen, she acquired her own blue roadster, trained on the freeways of Houston and the broad stretches of oil-endowed Texas highway, and began her travels.
She has lived in the Southwest and Midwest and on the West Coast, where she has collected three degrees in English without relinquishing her affection for the expressiveness of the everyday language that real people speak. Her research skills and her ear for language both serve her well in mysteries set in realistic places and featuring characters with authentic voices.
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
May 31, 2019
Check out all of my reviews at: https://www.avonnalovesgenres.com
BAYOU CITY BURNING (Harry and Dizzy Lark Book 1) by D.B. Borton is a new P.I. mystery story and the beginning of a new series. Set in Houston, TX in the 1960’s this father/daughter team are so much fun to get to know and follow as their separate investigations merge into one intriguing mystery case. Did I mention that Dizzy is only 12 years old?
P.I. Harry Lark is happy when a well-dressed out-of-towner shows up at his office. He has orthodontist bills to pay for his son. All he has to do is follow two men from D.C. and let his client know where they go in Houston and who they see. When Harry discovers he is not the only one following these men, he starts to wonder what his client is really interested in.
Desdemona “Dizzy” Lark is not your average 12 year old girl. She has started a business with her two best friends, B.D. and Mel out of her family’s garage. Lost and Found finds lost items collected from the neighborhood and you can have them returned or purchase them for a small trade or fee. Dizzy and her friends are Nancy Drew fans and Dizzy wants to become a P.I. just like her Dad.
As Dizzy and the girls are sitting around the garage, little 7 year old Sissy Heffelman walks up and tells the girls she wants them to find her daddy. An expensive Barbie doll was sent to Sissy on her birthday and she believes it is from her father even though he was supposedly killed in a terrible train wreck weeks before. They take Sissy’s case.
As the girls work their case, Harry’s client is killed in his office while searching for something after breaking in in the night. Harry has mobsters showing up from Chicago and Tampa all looking for something that Harry knows nothing about. Houston got rid of the mob years ago, so why are they back? All of a sudden in once quiet Houston there are bombings tied to picketers and the dockworkers are striking. When Harry and Dizzy begin to compare their cases, they find the two may be connected by a single incident.
This is such a fun, entertaining and intriguing mystery. Harry’s dialogue is filled with old-fashioned hard-boiled P.I. lingo that at first was a little jarring, but then it just blends right into the whole narrative and I could not imagine him talking any other way. It was especially entertaining when Dizzy used the same lingo. Harry and Dizzy have a unique relationship that had me laughing out loud at times. Set in the 1960’s, the author realistically writes about race relations, dirty politicians and the mafia. There are many twists and turns in this fast moving plot that kept me guessing.
I highly recommend this book and I cannot wait to read more mysteries with this father/daughter duo.
BAYOU CITY BURNING (Harry and Dizzy Lark Book 1) by D.B. Borton is a new P.I. mystery story and the beginning of a new series. Set in Houston, TX in the 1960’s this father/daughter team are so much fun to get to know and follow as their separate investigations merge into one intriguing mystery case. Did I mention that Dizzy is only 12 years old?
P.I. Harry Lark is happy when a well-dressed out-of-towner shows up at his office. He has orthodontist bills to pay for his son. All he has to do is follow two men from D.C. and let his client know where they go in Houston and who they see. When Harry discovers he is not the only one following these men, he starts to wonder what his client is really interested in.
Desdemona “Dizzy” Lark is not your average 12 year old girl. She has started a business with her two best friends, B.D. and Mel out of her family’s garage. Lost and Found finds lost items collected from the neighborhood and you can have them returned or purchase them for a small trade or fee. Dizzy and her friends are Nancy Drew fans and Dizzy wants to become a P.I. just like her Dad.
As Dizzy and the girls are sitting around the garage, little 7 year old Sissy Heffelman walks up and tells the girls she wants them to find her daddy. An expensive Barbie doll was sent to Sissy on her birthday and she believes it is from her father even though he was supposedly killed in a terrible train wreck weeks before. They take Sissy’s case.
As the girls work their case, Harry’s client is killed in his office while searching for something after breaking in in the night. Harry has mobsters showing up from Chicago and Tampa all looking for something that Harry knows nothing about. Houston got rid of the mob years ago, so why are they back? All of a sudden in once quiet Houston there are bombings tied to picketers and the dockworkers are striking. When Harry and Dizzy begin to compare their cases, they find the two may be connected by a single incident.
This is such a fun, entertaining and intriguing mystery. Harry’s dialogue is filled with old-fashioned hard-boiled P.I. lingo that at first was a little jarring, but then it just blends right into the whole narrative and I could not imagine him talking any other way. It was especially entertaining when Dizzy used the same lingo. Harry and Dizzy have a unique relationship that had me laughing out loud at times. Set in the 1960’s, the author realistically writes about race relations, dirty politicians and the mafia. There are many twists and turns in this fast moving plot that kept me guessing.
I highly recommend this book and I cannot wait to read more mysteries with this father/daughter duo.
May 19, 2019
Bayou City Burning by D.B. Borton is not my usual go-to novel but I was asked to read and review it so I gave it a chance. I am so glad that I did. The plot and characters were so reminiscent of books and t.v. detective shows of my youth. This was the first book I had read by D.B. Borton but glad to discover that this was the first book in a new series. I will absolutely look for future books by this author.
If you closed your eyes and imagined a stereotyped image of a Private Investigator, you would have a good picture of Harry Lark. He was a divorced father of two, worried about paying for his son's braces and occasionally left solo to mind his children for extensive periods of time. Now imagine Houston, Texas in 1961 with John Kennedy, president of the United States, and his vice president, Houston's own, Lyndon B. Johnson. The country was in the midst of expanding and developing their space program. Unbeknownst to most, Houston was being considered as a potential site for NASA to build a space center. Simultaneously, Houston still practiced segregation and the civil rights movement was just at the early stages of development.
Harry Lark's daughter, Dizzy, described her father as "a two-bit shamus" but Dizzy really was
proud of him and admired him in her own way. Dizzy (short for Desdemona), a twelve year old girl, going on 30, as her father described her, aspired to become a P.I. like her father even though she would never admit it. She and her friends had started a Lost and Found business in her garage that hot summer of 1961. Dizzy's P.I. talents were immediately tested when Sissy Heffelman, a local six year old little girl, hired Dizzy and her friends B.D. and Mel, to find her father who had died in a train accident. Sissy believed her father was still alive though. She believed her father was still alive because she had received a brand new barbie doll that she was absolutely sure came from her father after his funeral. Dizzy noticed fingerprints on the Barbie doll and so she and her friends agreed to look into Sissy's father death or disappearance. As Sissy's case progressed, Dizzy was forced to ask Harry for his expert experience in analyzing fingerprints and in helping to solve the mystery of Sissy's father. Father and daughter worked together,while admiring each other's talents, to solve this case.
Harry, on the other hand, found himself being approached, at his less than respectable office, by an out of town man who wanted Harry to keep an eye on two men arriving from Washington, D.C. He wanted Harry to find out what they were doing in Houston, where they went and who they saw. Harry was also instructed to take lots of pictures. These two men, Harry learned, may have been involved with the plans for bringing NASA to Houston. Harry discovered lots of legitimate and not so legitimate wheeling and dealings going on in his small, quiet Bayou City where Harry found himself caught right smack in the middle of it all.
D.B. Borton is a native born Texan. As a young girl, author D.B. Borton loved reading Nancy Drew Mysteries. It was no accident then that there were so many similarities between Dizzy's character and that of Nancy Drew. Throughout the novel, D.B. Borton combined fictional themes that were based on real events and people. Bayou City Burning was an action packed, fast moving novel. I felt myself rooting for Dizzy and Harry. There were so many twists and turns that kept me guessing how it would all end. I was glad to read that there will be a sequel to this book. Can't wait to read it! I highly recommend this book. Thank you to Stephanie Barko, Literary Publicist, in affording me the opportunity to read this ARC of Bayou City Burning by D.B. Borton. All opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
If you closed your eyes and imagined a stereotyped image of a Private Investigator, you would have a good picture of Harry Lark. He was a divorced father of two, worried about paying for his son's braces and occasionally left solo to mind his children for extensive periods of time. Now imagine Houston, Texas in 1961 with John Kennedy, president of the United States, and his vice president, Houston's own, Lyndon B. Johnson. The country was in the midst of expanding and developing their space program. Unbeknownst to most, Houston was being considered as a potential site for NASA to build a space center. Simultaneously, Houston still practiced segregation and the civil rights movement was just at the early stages of development.
Harry Lark's daughter, Dizzy, described her father as "a two-bit shamus" but Dizzy really was
proud of him and admired him in her own way. Dizzy (short for Desdemona), a twelve year old girl, going on 30, as her father described her, aspired to become a P.I. like her father even though she would never admit it. She and her friends had started a Lost and Found business in her garage that hot summer of 1961. Dizzy's P.I. talents were immediately tested when Sissy Heffelman, a local six year old little girl, hired Dizzy and her friends B.D. and Mel, to find her father who had died in a train accident. Sissy believed her father was still alive though. She believed her father was still alive because she had received a brand new barbie doll that she was absolutely sure came from her father after his funeral. Dizzy noticed fingerprints on the Barbie doll and so she and her friends agreed to look into Sissy's father death or disappearance. As Sissy's case progressed, Dizzy was forced to ask Harry for his expert experience in analyzing fingerprints and in helping to solve the mystery of Sissy's father. Father and daughter worked together,while admiring each other's talents, to solve this case.
Harry, on the other hand, found himself being approached, at his less than respectable office, by an out of town man who wanted Harry to keep an eye on two men arriving from Washington, D.C. He wanted Harry to find out what they were doing in Houston, where they went and who they saw. Harry was also instructed to take lots of pictures. These two men, Harry learned, may have been involved with the plans for bringing NASA to Houston. Harry discovered lots of legitimate and not so legitimate wheeling and dealings going on in his small, quiet Bayou City where Harry found himself caught right smack in the middle of it all.
D.B. Borton is a native born Texan. As a young girl, author D.B. Borton loved reading Nancy Drew Mysteries. It was no accident then that there were so many similarities between Dizzy's character and that of Nancy Drew. Throughout the novel, D.B. Borton combined fictional themes that were based on real events and people. Bayou City Burning was an action packed, fast moving novel. I felt myself rooting for Dizzy and Harry. There were so many twists and turns that kept me guessing how it would all end. I was glad to read that there will be a sequel to this book. Can't wait to read it! I highly recommend this book. Thank you to Stephanie Barko, Literary Publicist, in affording me the opportunity to read this ARC of Bayou City Burning by D.B. Borton. All opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
July 13, 2019
What happens when you combine politics, money, the mafia and the sultry conditions of the summer sun on the Bayou City? Answer: both temperatures and tempers rise. Murders may even occur.
Houston has all the characteristics needed for NASA's planned site of its new Mission Control. But certain mafia types would really prefer instead for their Florida city to be chosen by NASA. Maybe if these certain wise guys could possibly incite a little local mob violence and racial tensions, this would then convince NASA that Houston is the wrong place to invest millions of taxpayer dollars and persuade them to change their site selection decision.
Enter Harry and Dizzy, a father and daughter private detective team. They each separately stumble across the trails left behind by murderers and money. Together, they start piecing together the mysterious happenings of their clients.
This book was quite enjoyable and reads like a Casablanca movie, as in "of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine." So much fun and hard to put down.
Thanks to NetGalley and Boomerang Books for the opportunity to review Bayou City Burning and to give my unbiased review.
Houston has all the characteristics needed for NASA's planned site of its new Mission Control. But certain mafia types would really prefer instead for their Florida city to be chosen by NASA. Maybe if these certain wise guys could possibly incite a little local mob violence and racial tensions, this would then convince NASA that Houston is the wrong place to invest millions of taxpayer dollars and persuade them to change their site selection decision.
Enter Harry and Dizzy, a father and daughter private detective team. They each separately stumble across the trails left behind by murderers and money. Together, they start piecing together the mysterious happenings of their clients.
This book was quite enjoyable and reads like a Casablanca movie, as in "of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine." So much fun and hard to put down.
Thanks to NetGalley and Boomerang Books for the opportunity to review Bayou City Burning and to give my unbiased review.
June 20, 2019
If you like gritty PI books set in the 1960s when private investigators were a different breed, then this is a book you will want to pick up and read.
This book has all the characteristics of a Sam Shade novel but add in a 12 year old girl that is channeling Nancy Drew, the hot city of Houston, and the mafia and this all sets the scene for some fascinating reading.
The book switches POV from Harry to Dizzy. At first it was a little confusing until I understood the relationship between the two and because the story would jump around in time a day or two based on the POV. The stories intertwine and I enjoyed how the stories merged into one and that despite the times, Harry did not discourage Dizzy from doing what interested her, even shooting guns. This is Texas after all!
The story also hits on racial issues as this is the beginning of desegregation and there are several scenes that highlight those fighting for equal rights. Crooked politicians and the space race round out the plot lines in the book.
I was pulled into this story wondering how it was all going to play out and as the storylines merged, along with Harry and Dizzy's interactions, I couldn't wait for the climax and I was not disappointed.
Some of my favorite lines from the book:
"We still had plenty of vice and crime, of course, but it was the homegrown, loony Lone Star variety."
"You pulled off Barbie's head?" I asked. Further proof that my daughter was not a typical girl.
The mismatched file cabinets looked like they had been salvaged from Davy Jones's locker. There was something on the floor that resembled green carpet, but in places it had given up trying to cover the floorboards altogether. The venetian blinds had slats missing and slats hanging at odd angles like drunken sailors.
"It's like stirring up a nest of fire ants. You're bound to get stung, and it doesn't matter how many ants you step on, there'll be more ants."
This was an engaging book and we give it 4 paws up.
This book has all the characteristics of a Sam Shade novel but add in a 12 year old girl that is channeling Nancy Drew, the hot city of Houston, and the mafia and this all sets the scene for some fascinating reading.
The book switches POV from Harry to Dizzy. At first it was a little confusing until I understood the relationship between the two and because the story would jump around in time a day or two based on the POV. The stories intertwine and I enjoyed how the stories merged into one and that despite the times, Harry did not discourage Dizzy from doing what interested her, even shooting guns. This is Texas after all!
The story also hits on racial issues as this is the beginning of desegregation and there are several scenes that highlight those fighting for equal rights. Crooked politicians and the space race round out the plot lines in the book.
I was pulled into this story wondering how it was all going to play out and as the storylines merged, along with Harry and Dizzy's interactions, I couldn't wait for the climax and I was not disappointed.
Some of my favorite lines from the book:
"We still had plenty of vice and crime, of course, but it was the homegrown, loony Lone Star variety."
"You pulled off Barbie's head?" I asked. Further proof that my daughter was not a typical girl.
The mismatched file cabinets looked like they had been salvaged from Davy Jones's locker. There was something on the floor that resembled green carpet, but in places it had given up trying to cover the floorboards altogether. The venetian blinds had slats missing and slats hanging at odd angles like drunken sailors.
"It's like stirring up a nest of fire ants. You're bound to get stung, and it doesn't matter how many ants you step on, there'll be more ants."
This was an engaging book and we give it 4 paws up.
April 26, 2019
Shades of Sam Spade! The P.I. novel is alive and well in the hands of author D. B. Borton, academician and author of eleven mysteries in two series. In Bayou City Burning, she plays with the conventions of the P.I. novel—the hard-boiled detective made cynical by the violence he’s seen and the corrupt legal system of the gritty world he deals with; the slang, such as slammer and pigeon and packing heat; the terse, first-person language, short on emotion but long on similes: “The building looked like a tall cement waffle folded in on itself,” or “His face was as impassive as a highway exit ramp.”
The opening could be straight out of Raymond Chandler:
I was sitting at my desk reading the Post when the light changed
and I looked up to see a man standing in the doorway. The rain
hammered against my windows and the air conditioner was grinding
away at my back and I thought, not for the first time, that someday
somebody was going to get the drop on me and I wouldn’t even
hear it coming.
Harry Lark is considered by many a two-bit shamus—his daughter’s words—but what sets Harry apart from most P.I.s is that, in his own hard-bitten way, he is a devoted father of two, a boy whose orthodontic bills are about to drive Harry into bankruptcy and a twelve-year-old girl, Dizzy, who is a budding P.I. in the making.
Dizzy Lark has opened her own business, a lost and found which she operates out of her garage with two other girls. Their biggest case comes when six-year-old Cissy Heffelman asks them to find her father who supposedly died in a train wreck. The child believes he didn’t die, because after the wreck she received a Barbie doll from him for her birthday.
The time is the spring of 1961, when all America was afire to beat the Russians in space. Rumor was that new vice-president Lyndon Johnson wanted to put the proposed NASA manned space station near Houston. While Dizzy investigates the train wreck and looks for Mr. Heffelman, Harry is drawn into the bombing of Union Station, a thwarted bombing of two theatres that would have also taken out a major hotel and many of Houston’s movers and shakers, student racial protests, and union fights on the docks. Plus a couple of beatings at the hands of mob goons.
An author’s note tells us that many of the events and characters are based on fact. It’s no spoiler to say that the story reflects the controversy over location of the manned space center and the involvement of the mob in influencing that decision. It’s an interesting and little-known incident in twentieth-century history, and Borton is to be commended for bringing it to light.
But I can’t help wondering how it would have played as straight crime fiction without the somewhat-dated trappings of the PI novel which rose to prominence in the 1930s and relied on mob bad guys as part of the convention. By the 1960s, PI novels were pretty much replaced by TV dramas. Still, perhaps Borton deliberately used the style to fit the subject. If you’re a fan of PI novels, this is for you.
Disclosure: I was given this book to review.
The opening could be straight out of Raymond Chandler:
I was sitting at my desk reading the Post when the light changed
and I looked up to see a man standing in the doorway. The rain
hammered against my windows and the air conditioner was grinding
away at my back and I thought, not for the first time, that someday
somebody was going to get the drop on me and I wouldn’t even
hear it coming.
Harry Lark is considered by many a two-bit shamus—his daughter’s words—but what sets Harry apart from most P.I.s is that, in his own hard-bitten way, he is a devoted father of two, a boy whose orthodontic bills are about to drive Harry into bankruptcy and a twelve-year-old girl, Dizzy, who is a budding P.I. in the making.
Dizzy Lark has opened her own business, a lost and found which she operates out of her garage with two other girls. Their biggest case comes when six-year-old Cissy Heffelman asks them to find her father who supposedly died in a train wreck. The child believes he didn’t die, because after the wreck she received a Barbie doll from him for her birthday.
The time is the spring of 1961, when all America was afire to beat the Russians in space. Rumor was that new vice-president Lyndon Johnson wanted to put the proposed NASA manned space station near Houston. While Dizzy investigates the train wreck and looks for Mr. Heffelman, Harry is drawn into the bombing of Union Station, a thwarted bombing of two theatres that would have also taken out a major hotel and many of Houston’s movers and shakers, student racial protests, and union fights on the docks. Plus a couple of beatings at the hands of mob goons.
An author’s note tells us that many of the events and characters are based on fact. It’s no spoiler to say that the story reflects the controversy over location of the manned space center and the involvement of the mob in influencing that decision. It’s an interesting and little-known incident in twentieth-century history, and Borton is to be commended for bringing it to light.
But I can’t help wondering how it would have played as straight crime fiction without the somewhat-dated trappings of the PI novel which rose to prominence in the 1930s and relied on mob bad guys as part of the convention. By the 1960s, PI novels were pretty much replaced by TV dramas. Still, perhaps Borton deliberately used the style to fit the subject. If you’re a fan of PI novels, this is for you.
Disclosure: I was given this book to review.
May 10, 2019
Bayou City Burning
D. B. Borton
Review by Barbara Bamberger Scott
A hard-boiled private eye who loves his kids and a daughter who seeks to imitate her father’s exploits team up in this wide-ranging mystery/history saga.
Harry Lark is a private investigator. In that role he understands the criminal mind, engages in less than legal activities when his work requires it, and tries to keep an eye on the bottom line, because in his other role, divorced father of two, he must pay for braces and occasionally do some serious child-minding. The novel begins in 1961 when Harry is approached by someone wanting Harry to keep an eye on a pair of shady guys from D.C. who may be connected in some way to plans now developing to bring NASA to Houston, aka the Bayou City. There are a lot of legitimate interests in the new facility, and some covert wheeling and dealing as well. Harry finds himself stuck in the middle of these high-level games. Meanwhile his 12-year-old daughter Dizzy (short for Desdemona) has started a neighborhood Lost and Found. Her own PI instincts come to the fore when a little girl wanders in asking Dizzy and her friends to find her dead father, who she is sure is still alive. Once Dizzy starts needing a bit more sophisticated assistance like fingerprint analysis, Harry steps in and is amazed at his daughter’s already well-developed tracking and tracing abilities. Together they go on a hunt for the missing man.
The author of Bayou City Burning, D. B. Borton (the Cat Caliban and Gilda Liberty mystery series) is a native Texan who was entranced with Nancy Drew as a youngster and has created in Dizzy a fellow admirer of the Drew books and a fine example of a youthful female sleuth. This story spans multiple fictional themes combined skillfully with real history, all of which impinge on the lives of the central characters: the creation of the NASA facility and reasons behind the choice of Houston for that singular honor; the troubled years of racial desegregation in the Bayou City; and the political operatives in the background pulling the strings in both realms. Borton pulls together all this intrigue - and plenty of simple human interaction along the way - with scintillating, sometimes hilarious dialogue that avoids profanity so that older children and teens can fully enjoy Dizzy’s part in the proceedings without parental guidance. Harry Lark is as believable and likable as he is tough and street-smart. Dizzy and her friends gleefully navigate the protocols of criminal investigation, learning as they go.
Action packed, the tale maintains a steady galloping pace. There’s a new twist in every chapter. Borton fans new and established will surely agree that Bayou City Burning cries for a sequel.
D. B. Borton
Review by Barbara Bamberger Scott
A hard-boiled private eye who loves his kids and a daughter who seeks to imitate her father’s exploits team up in this wide-ranging mystery/history saga.
Harry Lark is a private investigator. In that role he understands the criminal mind, engages in less than legal activities when his work requires it, and tries to keep an eye on the bottom line, because in his other role, divorced father of two, he must pay for braces and occasionally do some serious child-minding. The novel begins in 1961 when Harry is approached by someone wanting Harry to keep an eye on a pair of shady guys from D.C. who may be connected in some way to plans now developing to bring NASA to Houston, aka the Bayou City. There are a lot of legitimate interests in the new facility, and some covert wheeling and dealing as well. Harry finds himself stuck in the middle of these high-level games. Meanwhile his 12-year-old daughter Dizzy (short for Desdemona) has started a neighborhood Lost and Found. Her own PI instincts come to the fore when a little girl wanders in asking Dizzy and her friends to find her dead father, who she is sure is still alive. Once Dizzy starts needing a bit more sophisticated assistance like fingerprint analysis, Harry steps in and is amazed at his daughter’s already well-developed tracking and tracing abilities. Together they go on a hunt for the missing man.
The author of Bayou City Burning, D. B. Borton (the Cat Caliban and Gilda Liberty mystery series) is a native Texan who was entranced with Nancy Drew as a youngster and has created in Dizzy a fellow admirer of the Drew books and a fine example of a youthful female sleuth. This story spans multiple fictional themes combined skillfully with real history, all of which impinge on the lives of the central characters: the creation of the NASA facility and reasons behind the choice of Houston for that singular honor; the troubled years of racial desegregation in the Bayou City; and the political operatives in the background pulling the strings in both realms. Borton pulls together all this intrigue - and plenty of simple human interaction along the way - with scintillating, sometimes hilarious dialogue that avoids profanity so that older children and teens can fully enjoy Dizzy’s part in the proceedings without parental guidance. Harry Lark is as believable and likable as he is tough and street-smart. Dizzy and her friends gleefully navigate the protocols of criminal investigation, learning as they go.
Action packed, the tale maintains a steady galloping pace. There’s a new twist in every chapter. Borton fans new and established will surely agree that Bayou City Burning cries for a sequel.
September 10, 2021
What do NASA, Florida, politics, mobsters, and a lost & found have in common? You'll have to read Bayou City Burning to find out!
Featuring father-daughter duo Harry and Dizzy, this book is a cross between a hard-boiled and girl detective fiction story. It has a unique narrative structure; the book alternates between Harry and Dizzy's perspectives.
I really enjoyed hearing their different perspectives and seeing how their stories weaved together. I thought that Dizzy was an especially fun character; I wish I was as brave as she was at 12! I also liked how most characters in this book, including Harry and Dizzy, have very identifiable and colourful voices.
To me, the action did start off somewhat slowly at the beginning, but the book definitely ramps up in excitement over time. If I had to use one word to describe the plot, it would be 'big'. As I mentioned earlier, there are a number of different and seemingly disparate elements to this mystery.
The time period that this book is set in, 1961 Houston, also plays an important role in the book, expanding the mystery even more. Historical events like the space race and the civil rights movement are discussed in this novel - with a fictional twist, of course. For me, it added an extra layer of realism to the story.
Sometimes, mysteries with big plots can be confusing and cumbersome. However, I'm happy to report that that wasn't my experience with this book. I thought that Borton did a good job of tying together the various elements of the mystery, which is a testament to her skill considering just how many elements there are! I thought that the mystery wrapped up fairly clearly.
Thank you to D.B. Borton for providing me with a review copy. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.
Readers should note that there is some violence and foul language. Related to the book's discussion of integration and the civil rights movement in Houston, there are discussions of racism and instances where some characters use derogatory language.
For more of my reviews, please visit:
Featuring father-daughter duo Harry and Dizzy, this book is a cross between a hard-boiled and girl detective fiction story. It has a unique narrative structure; the book alternates between Harry and Dizzy's perspectives.
I really enjoyed hearing their different perspectives and seeing how their stories weaved together. I thought that Dizzy was an especially fun character; I wish I was as brave as she was at 12! I also liked how most characters in this book, including Harry and Dizzy, have very identifiable and colourful voices.
To me, the action did start off somewhat slowly at the beginning, but the book definitely ramps up in excitement over time. If I had to use one word to describe the plot, it would be 'big'. As I mentioned earlier, there are a number of different and seemingly disparate elements to this mystery.
The time period that this book is set in, 1961 Houston, also plays an important role in the book, expanding the mystery even more. Historical events like the space race and the civil rights movement are discussed in this novel - with a fictional twist, of course. For me, it added an extra layer of realism to the story.
Sometimes, mysteries with big plots can be confusing and cumbersome. However, I'm happy to report that that wasn't my experience with this book. I thought that Borton did a good job of tying together the various elements of the mystery, which is a testament to her skill considering just how many elements there are! I thought that the mystery wrapped up fairly clearly.
Thank you to D.B. Borton for providing me with a review copy. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.
Readers should note that there is some violence and foul language. Related to the book's discussion of integration and the civil rights movement in Houston, there are discussions of racism and instances where some characters use derogatory language.
For more of my reviews, please visit:
May 27, 2019
Private Eye Harry Lark and his precocious 12-year-old daughter, Dizzy, become involved in two separate mysteries that eventually come together in a murky, murderous plan to stop a space center in Texas. Set in Houston in 1961, tough talking Harry interacts with the big wigs and the sleaze while Dizzy and her gang of friends try to help a youngster in Spring Branch find her daddy.
Combining Texas politics, oil tycoons, freedom riders, and out of town gangsters, the shenanigans are convoluted and sometimes funny. As Dizzy says “Some people regard my father Harry as a two-bit shamus. They see him as a licensed peeper with a gun under his coat and the ethics of an alligator lizard. I’ve seen him that way myself. But he’s got his principles.”
I thoroughly enjoyed the early 60’s details about the city where I’ve lived for over 50 years. I remember this earlier Houston well and Borton completely understands summer in this hot, humid place where the sun routinely melts the sidewalks.
This is my first book by D.B. Borton and is one to put on your summer reading list. I’ll definitely read some of her others.
Combining Texas politics, oil tycoons, freedom riders, and out of town gangsters, the shenanigans are convoluted and sometimes funny. As Dizzy says “Some people regard my father Harry as a two-bit shamus. They see him as a licensed peeper with a gun under his coat and the ethics of an alligator lizard. I’ve seen him that way myself. But he’s got his principles.”
I thoroughly enjoyed the early 60’s details about the city where I’ve lived for over 50 years. I remember this earlier Houston well and Borton completely understands summer in this hot, humid place where the sun routinely melts the sidewalks.
This is my first book by D.B. Borton and is one to put on your summer reading list. I’ll definitely read some of her others.
May 27, 2019
"Lies always catch up with you in the end."
Set in Houston in 1961, this book is a great blend of hard-boiled detective novel and Nancy Drew.
Harry Lark is a down on his luck Private Investigator who is hired by "Mr. Smith" to follow two men who are set to arrive in Houston. Harry is given no other information, just told to follow them and report back on where they go and who they meet.
Meanwhile, Harry's 12 year old daughter Dizzy (short for Desdemona) and her friends, B.D. and Mel, have started a Lost and Found business in Dizzy's garage. Since the three girls are avid readers of Nancy Drew-type mysteries, they think this will be more lucrative and more fun than a lemonade stand.
Things soon start to heat up, both with the infamous Houston weather and the arrival of at least two groups of Mobsters in Houston. "I don't believe in messing with the mob unless you've got a good reason to do it. It's like stirring up a nest of fire ants. You're bound to get stung, and it doesn't matter how many ants you step on, there'll be more ants."
Dizzy and friends are hired by a 6 year old girl named Sissy to prove that her father is still alive, although everybody thinks he died in a train wreck between Houston and Chicago. Her only proof? A Barbie doll sent to her from Topeka on her birthday.
The author does a wonderful job in describing the political atmosphere of Houston in the early 1960's. It seems that the local bigshots are trying to get NASA to build a space center there in order to send man to the moon as per President Kennedy.
At the same time, Houston is fighting desegregation while being forced to face the changing times when a group of young black students hold demonstrations at various places in town. And, don't forget the unrest at the docks when the Union workers start picketing as well.
There is a lot going on in this book, but the author does a great job in presenting the story as it plays out and tying it all together by the end. There are plenty of twists and turns to keep the reader entertained and I found it hard to stop reading once I got into the story.
The author uses a lot of colorful language ala Sam Spade-type detectives. At first I found this a little off-putting, but as I read more, I thoroughly enjoyed the witty banter and colorful terms.
"Houstonians view roaches as just another breed of livestock."
"In Houston, nobody messes with an AC repairman."
"Everybody knows she's just an old gossip who minds ever'body else's business 'cause she doesn't have any of her own."
The addition of the kids' enterprise was my favorite part of the book. The things that they found, the way they bartered with their clients using baseball cards, and the way they worked together was reminiscent of the Nancy Drew-type mysteries that I loved as a young girl. When they find that their client's case is mixed up with the realities of Harry's case, the author brings all of the information together in a very impressive manner.
All in all, this was a great book if you enjoy a good hardboiled PI, kids working together to solve a mystery or just a well-written book. I was given the chance to read this book by the author/publisher and chose to review it.
Set in Houston in 1961, this book is a great blend of hard-boiled detective novel and Nancy Drew.
Harry Lark is a down on his luck Private Investigator who is hired by "Mr. Smith" to follow two men who are set to arrive in Houston. Harry is given no other information, just told to follow them and report back on where they go and who they meet.
Meanwhile, Harry's 12 year old daughter Dizzy (short for Desdemona) and her friends, B.D. and Mel, have started a Lost and Found business in Dizzy's garage. Since the three girls are avid readers of Nancy Drew-type mysteries, they think this will be more lucrative and more fun than a lemonade stand.
Things soon start to heat up, both with the infamous Houston weather and the arrival of at least two groups of Mobsters in Houston. "I don't believe in messing with the mob unless you've got a good reason to do it. It's like stirring up a nest of fire ants. You're bound to get stung, and it doesn't matter how many ants you step on, there'll be more ants."
Dizzy and friends are hired by a 6 year old girl named Sissy to prove that her father is still alive, although everybody thinks he died in a train wreck between Houston and Chicago. Her only proof? A Barbie doll sent to her from Topeka on her birthday.
The author does a wonderful job in describing the political atmosphere of Houston in the early 1960's. It seems that the local bigshots are trying to get NASA to build a space center there in order to send man to the moon as per President Kennedy.
At the same time, Houston is fighting desegregation while being forced to face the changing times when a group of young black students hold demonstrations at various places in town. And, don't forget the unrest at the docks when the Union workers start picketing as well.
There is a lot going on in this book, but the author does a great job in presenting the story as it plays out and tying it all together by the end. There are plenty of twists and turns to keep the reader entertained and I found it hard to stop reading once I got into the story.
The author uses a lot of colorful language ala Sam Spade-type detectives. At first I found this a little off-putting, but as I read more, I thoroughly enjoyed the witty banter and colorful terms.
"Houstonians view roaches as just another breed of livestock."
"In Houston, nobody messes with an AC repairman."
"Everybody knows she's just an old gossip who minds ever'body else's business 'cause she doesn't have any of her own."
The addition of the kids' enterprise was my favorite part of the book. The things that they found, the way they bartered with their clients using baseball cards, and the way they worked together was reminiscent of the Nancy Drew-type mysteries that I loved as a young girl. When they find that their client's case is mixed up with the realities of Harry's case, the author brings all of the information together in a very impressive manner.
All in all, this was a great book if you enjoy a good hardboiled PI, kids working together to solve a mystery or just a well-written book. I was given the chance to read this book by the author/publisher and chose to review it.
April 10, 2019
BAYOU CITY BURNING – D.B. Borton
Houston, Texas – 1961
It’s May, 1961, in Houston and the weather is warming up, jobs are scarce, and private investigator Harry Lark has alimony and orthodontic bills to pay. Then a guy shows up in Harry’s stuffy office, mopping his brow from the heat, asking Harry to find and tail two men from NASA who are touring the area. Wondering what this out-of-towner wants with this information, but needing to pay his son’s orthodontist, Harry agrees. With help from two of his friends, Harry tracks the men to a fancy hotel, and then they pile into a car with one of Houston’s most powerful businessmen. They followed them out to the countryside, aware that another vehicle was also close behind. What the heck is going on here? Harry does his job, but wonders why the suit who hired him is interested in what these two scientists are up to.
Dizzy (Desdemona) Lark, Harry’s daughter and two of her friends, B.D. and Mel, have set up a lost and found business in her mother’s garage (Harry and Dizzy’s mom, a professor of literature at Rice University are divorced). The girls have been collecting items that they’ve found in the neighborhood, such as a kickball, barrettes, a retainer, hubcap, and anything else they can find. Then they “sell” these items for a small sum. They even get called to find a boy’s cat, which they do, and get all sorts of good publicity from that event. Dizzy and company are then stunned when seven year old Sissy Heffelman asks them to find her daddy. There was a terrible train wreck a few weeks before, and Sissy’s father was listed among the dead, and buried shortly afterwards. But when an expensive Barbie doll arrives in the mail anonymously for Sissy’s birthday, she is convinced that her father is still alive. Dizzy and friends decide to help.
In the meantime, the man who hired Harry to follow the two guys from Virginia turns up dead in Harry’s office. Lots of other weird, and dangerous, things begin happening to Harry as well as in the town. Houston ran the mob out of town years ago, so it’s been a quiet, peaceful place since. But suddenly there are issues with minorities, and something is going on with the union down at the port. Harry is wondering if there is something underhanded going on and is it connected to the dead guy? Once Harry and Dizzy start comparing notes on each of their “projects”, there seems to be a familiar vein running through both issues.
BAYOU CITY BURNING is a terrific mystery loaded with humor, lots of excitement, and fascinating, well written characters. Dizzy is her father’s daughter with his sense of humor, smart alecky comebacks, and braver than most twelve year-olds! She is also kind, loves to read, and tolerates her father forgetting to go watch her play ball. Harry may seem rough around the edges, because being a PI isn’t for the faint hearted, but he loves his children, and he wants a better future for them. Be prepared to laugh out loud throughout this excellent tale. It was a fun read and I would love to hear more from Dizzy and Harry, which is why this is a Perfect 10 book.
Houston, Texas – 1961
It’s May, 1961, in Houston and the weather is warming up, jobs are scarce, and private investigator Harry Lark has alimony and orthodontic bills to pay. Then a guy shows up in Harry’s stuffy office, mopping his brow from the heat, asking Harry to find and tail two men from NASA who are touring the area. Wondering what this out-of-towner wants with this information, but needing to pay his son’s orthodontist, Harry agrees. With help from two of his friends, Harry tracks the men to a fancy hotel, and then they pile into a car with one of Houston’s most powerful businessmen. They followed them out to the countryside, aware that another vehicle was also close behind. What the heck is going on here? Harry does his job, but wonders why the suit who hired him is interested in what these two scientists are up to.
Dizzy (Desdemona) Lark, Harry’s daughter and two of her friends, B.D. and Mel, have set up a lost and found business in her mother’s garage (Harry and Dizzy’s mom, a professor of literature at Rice University are divorced). The girls have been collecting items that they’ve found in the neighborhood, such as a kickball, barrettes, a retainer, hubcap, and anything else they can find. Then they “sell” these items for a small sum. They even get called to find a boy’s cat, which they do, and get all sorts of good publicity from that event. Dizzy and company are then stunned when seven year old Sissy Heffelman asks them to find her daddy. There was a terrible train wreck a few weeks before, and Sissy’s father was listed among the dead, and buried shortly afterwards. But when an expensive Barbie doll arrives in the mail anonymously for Sissy’s birthday, she is convinced that her father is still alive. Dizzy and friends decide to help.
In the meantime, the man who hired Harry to follow the two guys from Virginia turns up dead in Harry’s office. Lots of other weird, and dangerous, things begin happening to Harry as well as in the town. Houston ran the mob out of town years ago, so it’s been a quiet, peaceful place since. But suddenly there are issues with minorities, and something is going on with the union down at the port. Harry is wondering if there is something underhanded going on and is it connected to the dead guy? Once Harry and Dizzy start comparing notes on each of their “projects”, there seems to be a familiar vein running through both issues.
BAYOU CITY BURNING is a terrific mystery loaded with humor, lots of excitement, and fascinating, well written characters. Dizzy is her father’s daughter with his sense of humor, smart alecky comebacks, and braver than most twelve year-olds! She is also kind, loves to read, and tolerates her father forgetting to go watch her play ball. Harry may seem rough around the edges, because being a PI isn’t for the faint hearted, but he loves his children, and he wants a better future for them. Be prepared to laugh out loud throughout this excellent tale. It was a fun read and I would love to hear more from Dizzy and Harry, which is why this is a Perfect 10 book.
April 10, 2019
Houston in 1961 was still considered a backwater Texas town most notable for its oil-rich barons, the sultry heat and humidity and the size of the mosquitoes that flourished on the Gulf Coast. Segregation was still an accepted way of life in the south and the civil rights movement was only in the prenatal stage. It is in this setting that D.B. Borton brings us “Bayou City Burning.” The two protagonists are Private Investigator Harry Lark and his daughter Dizzy, a precocious 12 year old budding entrepreneur and amateur sleuth who has learned most of Harry’s tricks of the trade. Dizzy and her pals are running a lost-and-found out of a garage when they’re “hired” to find a missing dad who was supposedly killed in a train wreck. Harry was hired to tail a couple of out-of-towners who think Houston would be the ideal place to build a NASA facility. As the two parallel investigations progress they eventually come together, which makes for an interesting storyline. Harry has a droll sense of humor and a penchant for getting into some dicey situations. Dizzy is a delightful chip-off-the-old-block and mature beyond her years. Think Nancy Drew on steroids. Even as convoluted as the two plot lines are, Borton intertwines them and they seamlessly come together. It works and it works well. Best of all though is Borton’s prose. Her writing is so well crafted, with subtle but meaningful metaphors that transport the reader into the narrative without force or artifice. This is writing so lyrical it fairly sings. Five stars.
My thanks to Net Galley for providing an ARC of “Bayou City Burning” scheduled for publication June 20, 2019.
#NetGalley #BayouCityBurning
My thanks to Net Galley for providing an ARC of “Bayou City Burning” scheduled for publication June 20, 2019.
#NetGalley #BayouCityBurning
February 8, 2020
When I read the book description "Comedy meets mystery and history in the summer of 1961, when Houston is still a cowboy backwater", I knew I had to read this book. The novel is entertaining and delivers on its promise to include comedy. A scene in chapter 23 is incredibly funny - it had me laughing out loud!!
May 23, 2019
OMG Borton
June 26, 2019
An extraordinary novel, storytelling that's so absorbing and so suspenseful that even the most reluctant reviewer will find it difficult to put down.
Should be made into a movie ..
Should be made into a movie ..
March 4, 2022
This was a fascinating historical mystery. Although this is a historical PI mystery, I wouldn't call it pulp fiction, especially given that it's a father-daughter duo. It's even better that the daughter (Dizzy) is only 12. Honestly, it just adds another layer to the story. With parallel mysteries running that eventually merge, there's plenty to keep the reader engaged. A fun mystery that's easy to get lost in and will keep you guessing.
June 1, 2019
Full disclosure, I was provided a copy of this book by the author, however, have voluntarily chosen to write a review. All opinions are my own
Dizzy's a chip off the ol’ block
Harry Lark is a private investigator in 1960’s Houston. When he is contacted by an out of towner to trail some visitors, Harry is intrigued, but when his client turns up dead Harry begins to suspect that something is off. Things go from bad to worse when he is visited by the mob who are looking for a large sum of money that they believe Harry has. With the country in the middle of the space race and Houston on the short list for the site of a new space center, all eyes are on the Lone Star State. It isn’t until the once relatively calm civil rights protests in the city begin to turn violent that the gumshoe’s suspicions go on high alert. Are all of these events just poorly timed unrelated incidents, or is there a much larger plan at work to put a black eye on his hometown?
Meanwhile, 12-year-old Dizzy Lark seems to be following in her father’s footsteps. While not exactly a P.I., Dizzy and her friends have set up shop as a “lost and found” for the neighborhood using her garage as a base of operations. When finding lost shoes and baseball cards develop into the successful location of a friend’s pet Dizzy wonders if she and her friends aren’t in above their heads. As word starts to get out about Dizzy’s little business venture, she receives the strangest request of all. A friend whose father was a recent victim of a train wreck receives a present that has her convinced that her dad is alive. Dizzy and her friends take the case if only to prove to Sissy that her dad is not alive, but strange pieces of evidence start to pop up that cast doubt and cause the children to dig deeper. Dizzy really needs to rely on all her wits, skills and father’s nicked equipment to crack this case, but will the results of her investigation cause more harm than good?
Bayou City Burning is the newest book by author D.B. Borton. Set in 1960’s Houston, the reader is warped back to a time before cell phones and computers, where life was simple for some but not for many others. The timeline of this book is during the heart of the Civil Rights Movement and Borton’s writing depicts the struggles and injustices in a way that is not offensive, but eye-opening. For those, like myself, who have no firsthand of this period, I feel that Borton captures the tension of the times in a vivid way, but these depictions are not one-sided. While Borton displays the callousness of the local law enforcement in their treatment of the protestors, she has also depicted Dizzy and Harry’s friendship with Rose and her niece Juney in an endearing manner that provides a glimmer of hope for the future.
The main thing that really caught my attention with this book was that I felt at times as if I were reading two different stories with the same central characters but revolving around separate events. While reading the “Harry” chapters, I felt myself warped into an old school black and white Sam Spade movie with a decisively Noir type feel. I have always loved stories involving the hard-boiled gumshoe, his wisecracking sidekick and/or secretary, the femme fatale and Mafioso types at every turn. The Harry chapters had this in spades. On the flip side of that, while reading the “Dizzy” chapters, the feel was more of an old Nancy Drew novel or Scooby Doo cartoon where the resourceful, tenacious kids stumble onto a mystery and do not let up until they figure out the puzzle. Watching these two seemingly unrelated storylines start to intertwine and eventually merge was very interesting and made for a really good story.
After reading Bayou City Burning, I am curious to see what’s in store next for Harry and Dizzy in upcoming novels. It will be interesting to see if Borton keeps the duality of the first novel or integrates more into one distinct writing style as father and daughter continue to work together. Whatever the case, I hope to have a front row seat to watch it all unfold.
Dizzy's a chip off the ol’ block
Harry Lark is a private investigator in 1960’s Houston. When he is contacted by an out of towner to trail some visitors, Harry is intrigued, but when his client turns up dead Harry begins to suspect that something is off. Things go from bad to worse when he is visited by the mob who are looking for a large sum of money that they believe Harry has. With the country in the middle of the space race and Houston on the short list for the site of a new space center, all eyes are on the Lone Star State. It isn’t until the once relatively calm civil rights protests in the city begin to turn violent that the gumshoe’s suspicions go on high alert. Are all of these events just poorly timed unrelated incidents, or is there a much larger plan at work to put a black eye on his hometown?
Meanwhile, 12-year-old Dizzy Lark seems to be following in her father’s footsteps. While not exactly a P.I., Dizzy and her friends have set up shop as a “lost and found” for the neighborhood using her garage as a base of operations. When finding lost shoes and baseball cards develop into the successful location of a friend’s pet Dizzy wonders if she and her friends aren’t in above their heads. As word starts to get out about Dizzy’s little business venture, she receives the strangest request of all. A friend whose father was a recent victim of a train wreck receives a present that has her convinced that her dad is alive. Dizzy and her friends take the case if only to prove to Sissy that her dad is not alive, but strange pieces of evidence start to pop up that cast doubt and cause the children to dig deeper. Dizzy really needs to rely on all her wits, skills and father’s nicked equipment to crack this case, but will the results of her investigation cause more harm than good?
Bayou City Burning is the newest book by author D.B. Borton. Set in 1960’s Houston, the reader is warped back to a time before cell phones and computers, where life was simple for some but not for many others. The timeline of this book is during the heart of the Civil Rights Movement and Borton’s writing depicts the struggles and injustices in a way that is not offensive, but eye-opening. For those, like myself, who have no firsthand of this period, I feel that Borton captures the tension of the times in a vivid way, but these depictions are not one-sided. While Borton displays the callousness of the local law enforcement in their treatment of the protestors, she has also depicted Dizzy and Harry’s friendship with Rose and her niece Juney in an endearing manner that provides a glimmer of hope for the future.
The main thing that really caught my attention with this book was that I felt at times as if I were reading two different stories with the same central characters but revolving around separate events. While reading the “Harry” chapters, I felt myself warped into an old school black and white Sam Spade movie with a decisively Noir type feel. I have always loved stories involving the hard-boiled gumshoe, his wisecracking sidekick and/or secretary, the femme fatale and Mafioso types at every turn. The Harry chapters had this in spades. On the flip side of that, while reading the “Dizzy” chapters, the feel was more of an old Nancy Drew novel or Scooby Doo cartoon where the resourceful, tenacious kids stumble onto a mystery and do not let up until they figure out the puzzle. Watching these two seemingly unrelated storylines start to intertwine and eventually merge was very interesting and made for a really good story.
After reading Bayou City Burning, I am curious to see what’s in store next for Harry and Dizzy in upcoming novels. It will be interesting to see if Borton keeps the duality of the first novel or integrates more into one distinct writing style as father and daughter continue to work together. Whatever the case, I hope to have a front row seat to watch it all unfold.
June 1, 2019
Bayou City Burning introduces a new, riveting father/daughter investigative team. Welcome to Houston, TX! The year is 1960, Jack Kennedy is president, and his dream is to launch humans into space. Mere days have passed since NASA launched Alan Shepherd into space and the excitement in the air remains visceral.
The story opens in ace detective Harry Lark’s rather seedy office. "I was sitting at my desk reading the Post when the light changed and I looked up to see a man standing in the doorway. The rain hammered against my windows and the air conditioner was grinding away at my back and I thought, not for the first time, that someday somebody was going to get the drop on me and I wouldn’t even hear it coming."
Harry is a single dad of two bright kids: a teenage son and younger daughter. Harry’s son knows only three tones when he talks with his dad: bored, superior, and disgruntled. Daughter Dizzy, on the other hand, is smart and curious girl and seems a natural to follow Harry’s investigative footsteps. If Nancy Drew and Philip Marlowe come to mind as you read, that would reflect my experience as well.
Harry’s ex-wife, a professor at Rice University, is out of the country, and Harry is staying at her home to parent their children. Dizzy and her friends, B.D. and Mel, have recently opened a lost and found business in Dizzy’s mother’s garage. The girls search for lost neighborhood items; the rule is: search only after homework is complete, which Dizzy dutifully obeys.
As the inventory increases–barrettes, grubby tennis balls, a slightly dented hubcap, and jacks–so does business. To date, the most exciting find has been a lost cat.
Then one day, little Sissy Heffelman, seven years old, walks into the garage and pleads with Dizzy to find her lost father. Dizzy knows Mr. Heffelman died in a recent horrible Houston train crash. But then an anonymous gift, a Barbie doll, arrives for Sissy after the accident. Sissy believes her father is still alive and convinces Dizzy to find him. Dizzy starts immediately, using some of Harry’s investigative procedures. Her search soon reaches a point where she needs to consult with an expert, however, and Dizzy turns to Harry.
As Harry advises his daughter, he senses that Dizzy’s search appears to link with a potentially huge case he is currently investigating. Since mob involvement is likely, he begins to work closely with his daughter. As a team, the two become unstoppable as they follow one clue after another.
There is so much to love and enjoy about Bayou City Burning. Harry’s down-on-his luck detective character brings to mind the likable Marlowe mysteries of the 60s. And, while Dizzy shares common threads with Nancy Drew, she is also–as was Nancy–unique in her moment in time. The plot has rich intensity and curvy twists, as well as much detail of the real-life characters of that time in Houston. The cover well reflects the intensity and depth of detail that rise from the pages inside. For me, Bayou City Burning is, in part, a celebration of a particular time and place in our country’s history, compellingly written by an author who grew up there.
I also encourage you to learn more about native Texan D. B. Borton, who has a fascinating story of her own. One fact: as a teen, Borton owned a blue roadster. Do you recall the car Nancy Drew drove?
I wanted to read Bayou City Burning in one sitting. This book–my first reading of Borton’s many mysteries–will not be my last. In truth, my hope is, as I write this review, that Borton is busily penning another fascinating and endearing Harry and Dizzy Lark mystery. I highly recommend this book for all mystery lovers.
Note: I received a copy of Bayou City Burning from the author’s publicist in exchange for a review that stated my genuine thoughts and reactions to the mystery.
The story opens in ace detective Harry Lark’s rather seedy office. "I was sitting at my desk reading the Post when the light changed and I looked up to see a man standing in the doorway. The rain hammered against my windows and the air conditioner was grinding away at my back and I thought, not for the first time, that someday somebody was going to get the drop on me and I wouldn’t even hear it coming."
Harry is a single dad of two bright kids: a teenage son and younger daughter. Harry’s son knows only three tones when he talks with his dad: bored, superior, and disgruntled. Daughter Dizzy, on the other hand, is smart and curious girl and seems a natural to follow Harry’s investigative footsteps. If Nancy Drew and Philip Marlowe come to mind as you read, that would reflect my experience as well.
Harry’s ex-wife, a professor at Rice University, is out of the country, and Harry is staying at her home to parent their children. Dizzy and her friends, B.D. and Mel, have recently opened a lost and found business in Dizzy’s mother’s garage. The girls search for lost neighborhood items; the rule is: search only after homework is complete, which Dizzy dutifully obeys.
As the inventory increases–barrettes, grubby tennis balls, a slightly dented hubcap, and jacks–so does business. To date, the most exciting find has been a lost cat.
Then one day, little Sissy Heffelman, seven years old, walks into the garage and pleads with Dizzy to find her lost father. Dizzy knows Mr. Heffelman died in a recent horrible Houston train crash. But then an anonymous gift, a Barbie doll, arrives for Sissy after the accident. Sissy believes her father is still alive and convinces Dizzy to find him. Dizzy starts immediately, using some of Harry’s investigative procedures. Her search soon reaches a point where she needs to consult with an expert, however, and Dizzy turns to Harry.
As Harry advises his daughter, he senses that Dizzy’s search appears to link with a potentially huge case he is currently investigating. Since mob involvement is likely, he begins to work closely with his daughter. As a team, the two become unstoppable as they follow one clue after another.
There is so much to love and enjoy about Bayou City Burning. Harry’s down-on-his luck detective character brings to mind the likable Marlowe mysteries of the 60s. And, while Dizzy shares common threads with Nancy Drew, she is also–as was Nancy–unique in her moment in time. The plot has rich intensity and curvy twists, as well as much detail of the real-life characters of that time in Houston. The cover well reflects the intensity and depth of detail that rise from the pages inside. For me, Bayou City Burning is, in part, a celebration of a particular time and place in our country’s history, compellingly written by an author who grew up there.
I also encourage you to learn more about native Texan D. B. Borton, who has a fascinating story of her own. One fact: as a teen, Borton owned a blue roadster. Do you recall the car Nancy Drew drove?
I wanted to read Bayou City Burning in one sitting. This book–my first reading of Borton’s many mysteries–will not be my last. In truth, my hope is, as I write this review, that Borton is busily penning another fascinating and endearing Harry and Dizzy Lark mystery. I highly recommend this book for all mystery lovers.
Note: I received a copy of Bayou City Burning from the author’s publicist in exchange for a review that stated my genuine thoughts and reactions to the mystery.
June 1, 2019
There are hard-boiled Philip Marlowe mystery novels, and there are plucky Nancy Drew novels. D.B. Borton, a mystery novelist, manages to write a gripping novel that's both.
In 'Bayou City Burning,' Borton tells a tale of the shady characters and high-rolling businessmen in 1961 Houston, then a city on the make and eager to land a contract from NASA to build a mission-control space center in the heat of President Kennedy's quest to put a man on the moon. Harry Lark, a divorced private eye, takes on a mysterious man as a client to investigate a fact-finding mission from the government looking at Houston as a possible site for the space center, and Harry initially suspects possible corruption from local politicians. The more he learns, the more he realizes that the Mafia is involved - a point made clear when his client, who turns out to be a mobster, ends up dead in Harry's own office. Soon, Harry must deal with not just mob infiltration of Houston's pursuit of a NASA contract but the growing civil rights movement, which has spread into Texas like a gathering storm and has sparked violence in the form of fire bombings.
But as all this is going on, Harry's twelve-year-old daughter Dizzy, who runs a lost-and-found out of her mother's garage, gets an odd request from a little girl in the neighborhood; she wants Dizzy to find her father, believed dead in a train wreck, his mutilated remains having been buried. The only clue Dizzy has is the little girl's Barbie doll; the little girl explains that her father sent it to her as a birthday present before he died. Then, while Harry is hounded by mobsters interested in recovering missing cash, Dizzy finds something very interesting inside the Barbie doll . . .
Borton has a lot going on in 'Bayou City Burning,' and she weaves her tale through a disparate array of characters that includes Houston itself, a brash, aspirational city that simmers with humidity and explodes with violent thunderstorms, its volatility reflected in the rough-and-tumble attitude of its inhabitants. The feel is Hollywood noir, but the vibe is pure Texas, where everything is big - including the intrigue and danger.
Borton brings a unique style to her storytelling by having Harry and Dizzy narrate the story alternatively, seamlessly melding Harry's cynical, sour accounts of his experiences with Dizzy's innocent exuberance. Harry's descriptions of his investigation are jaded, describing a motel room as smelling of "mildew and cigarettes - that cheap motel smell like the funk of an old man who has given up bathing because his own familiar smell reassures him that he's still alive" - while Dizzy descriptions have the thrill of discovery as when she hears something inside the Barbie doll when she shakes it - "I shook her again. We heard the faint but distinctive tap of something small and solid against plastic." As they grow dependent on each other while their cases converge, they grow closer than they expect to, and they begin to respect each other. And this is not a casual read; the plot takes numerous threads and ties them together in a complex but careful way, as the pieces of the puzzle come together.
Borton based her novel on actual events in early-sixties Houston and brings that age to life vividly, showing the city in mid-metamorphosis from a sleepy backwater port town to one of the most dynamic and most important cities in America. I'll reveal this much about how 'Bayou City Burning' ends - Houston gets the space center and helps put a man on the moon.
In 'Bayou City Burning,' Borton tells a tale of the shady characters and high-rolling businessmen in 1961 Houston, then a city on the make and eager to land a contract from NASA to build a mission-control space center in the heat of President Kennedy's quest to put a man on the moon. Harry Lark, a divorced private eye, takes on a mysterious man as a client to investigate a fact-finding mission from the government looking at Houston as a possible site for the space center, and Harry initially suspects possible corruption from local politicians. The more he learns, the more he realizes that the Mafia is involved - a point made clear when his client, who turns out to be a mobster, ends up dead in Harry's own office. Soon, Harry must deal with not just mob infiltration of Houston's pursuit of a NASA contract but the growing civil rights movement, which has spread into Texas like a gathering storm and has sparked violence in the form of fire bombings.
But as all this is going on, Harry's twelve-year-old daughter Dizzy, who runs a lost-and-found out of her mother's garage, gets an odd request from a little girl in the neighborhood; she wants Dizzy to find her father, believed dead in a train wreck, his mutilated remains having been buried. The only clue Dizzy has is the little girl's Barbie doll; the little girl explains that her father sent it to her as a birthday present before he died. Then, while Harry is hounded by mobsters interested in recovering missing cash, Dizzy finds something very interesting inside the Barbie doll . . .
Borton has a lot going on in 'Bayou City Burning,' and she weaves her tale through a disparate array of characters that includes Houston itself, a brash, aspirational city that simmers with humidity and explodes with violent thunderstorms, its volatility reflected in the rough-and-tumble attitude of its inhabitants. The feel is Hollywood noir, but the vibe is pure Texas, where everything is big - including the intrigue and danger.
Borton brings a unique style to her storytelling by having Harry and Dizzy narrate the story alternatively, seamlessly melding Harry's cynical, sour accounts of his experiences with Dizzy's innocent exuberance. Harry's descriptions of his investigation are jaded, describing a motel room as smelling of "mildew and cigarettes - that cheap motel smell like the funk of an old man who has given up bathing because his own familiar smell reassures him that he's still alive" - while Dizzy descriptions have the thrill of discovery as when she hears something inside the Barbie doll when she shakes it - "I shook her again. We heard the faint but distinctive tap of something small and solid against plastic." As they grow dependent on each other while their cases converge, they grow closer than they expect to, and they begin to respect each other. And this is not a casual read; the plot takes numerous threads and ties them together in a complex but careful way, as the pieces of the puzzle come together.
Borton based her novel on actual events in early-sixties Houston and brings that age to life vividly, showing the city in mid-metamorphosis from a sleepy backwater port town to one of the most dynamic and most important cities in America. I'll reveal this much about how 'Bayou City Burning' ends - Houston gets the space center and helps put a man on the moon.
May 21, 2019
Once more a book has been recommended to me through the grapevine, and this time I've had the pleasure of encountering D.B. Borton's new book, Bayou City Burning. Borton's exciting novel follows a mystery set in 1961 Houston, Texas. P.I. Harry Lark works to step down from a case that quickly turns deadly. His budding P.I. of a daughter, Dizzy Lark, investigates a mystery of her very own revolving around a young girl who mysteriously receives a doll from her father, following his alleged death in a tragic train accident.
This is my first encounter with Borton's work, and through the grapevine, as mentioned earlier, I was asked to review this book. One of the main aspects I take into account when reading anything new is first impressions. In the case of Borton's story, my expectation was higher since, as a native Houstonian reading local fiction, I immediately wanted the satisfaction of recognizing that Houston spirit any citizen would know. I was far from disappointed when I came across the line of dialogue spoken by Harry:
"Houstonians view roaches as just another breed of livestock. And when the bayous overflow and the crayfish wander onto the patio, we just look on it as fresh seafood delivery. Hurricanes keep us on our toes and make us appreciate the garden-variety thunderstorm."
This aspect of Borton's story is more of a personal positive in my book, but there's nothing more rewarding to me than a local Houston author who understands the soul of this city. Now take into account that lasting Houston spirit is shining in the backdrop of 1961. On the same note, Borton's curt writing gives the story's narrative character and the characters themselves refreshing grit.
If there is any criticism I can offer to Borton's book, it will double as another compliment as I found myself going back and forth on the amount of setting offered in Borton's historical fiction piece. I am not a connoisseur of detective stories or crime drama, so when I say I found the use of setting lacking, it is stated with this intention taken into account. There are great lines to do plenty to give us a glimpse into the year of 1961 like the following line:
Book Review: "Bayou City Burning" by D.B. Borton
"The next day, May 25th, President Kennedy addressed a joint session of Congress. Among other things, he said that we were in an all-out race with the Russians to control outer space, and that he was committed to putting a man on the moon by 1970."
Usually, historical fiction spends more of the narrative on setting for the sake of immersion. It is fair to argue that crime fiction as its own genre concerns itself less with this staple, but it did cost me the ability to feel fully immersed in 1961 Houston. The compliment in this criticism is that I would recommend this as an entry-level historical and crime fiction book to any range of adults who are new to either of these genres.
This is my first encounter with Borton's work, and through the grapevine, as mentioned earlier, I was asked to review this book. One of the main aspects I take into account when reading anything new is first impressions. In the case of Borton's story, my expectation was higher since, as a native Houstonian reading local fiction, I immediately wanted the satisfaction of recognizing that Houston spirit any citizen would know. I was far from disappointed when I came across the line of dialogue spoken by Harry:
"Houstonians view roaches as just another breed of livestock. And when the bayous overflow and the crayfish wander onto the patio, we just look on it as fresh seafood delivery. Hurricanes keep us on our toes and make us appreciate the garden-variety thunderstorm."
This aspect of Borton's story is more of a personal positive in my book, but there's nothing more rewarding to me than a local Houston author who understands the soul of this city. Now take into account that lasting Houston spirit is shining in the backdrop of 1961. On the same note, Borton's curt writing gives the story's narrative character and the characters themselves refreshing grit.
If there is any criticism I can offer to Borton's book, it will double as another compliment as I found myself going back and forth on the amount of setting offered in Borton's historical fiction piece. I am not a connoisseur of detective stories or crime drama, so when I say I found the use of setting lacking, it is stated with this intention taken into account. There are great lines to do plenty to give us a glimpse into the year of 1961 like the following line:
Book Review: "Bayou City Burning" by D.B. Borton
"The next day, May 25th, President Kennedy addressed a joint session of Congress. Among other things, he said that we were in an all-out race with the Russians to control outer space, and that he was committed to putting a man on the moon by 1970."
Usually, historical fiction spends more of the narrative on setting for the sake of immersion. It is fair to argue that crime fiction as its own genre concerns itself less with this staple, but it did cost me the ability to feel fully immersed in 1961 Houston. The compliment in this criticism is that I would recommend this as an entry-level historical and crime fiction book to any range of adults who are new to either of these genres.
May 29, 2019
Bayou City Burning by author D. B. Borton is a book consisting of a number of parallel storylines woven together which converge into mystery and intrigue. The setting of this book is 1961 in Houston, Texas. The author has done justice to the decade of the 1960s with her authentic details of the many events that occurred during that time.
Houston became a popular place that summer of 1961. The wealthy and affluent businessmen and politicians have gotten together for a special meeting for what? The dock workers are on strike. Is there an agitator helping to stir up the situation more? The Freedom Riders are busy with protests at lunch counters and at theatres. Segregation and integration are at the forefront of this. Who or what group is paying for this? There are rumors of a space center to be built somewhere in the US? Could Houston be in the running for this? Who and who not there in Houston might or might not want a space center there? To add to all of this, there are a couple of mobsters to contend with. A private investigator Harry Lark and guys who work with him and law enforcement join forces to solve the various events of that summer.
Harry’s daughter Dizzy and her friends start a Lost and found in the garage. The kids in the neighborhood come by regularly to check to see what is available. A young girl comes by and wants Dizzy and her friends to help find her father who is lost. Harry has trained Dizzy in some things in the detective world plus Dizzy has observed what Harry has done in other areas.
All these storylines converge into one to make this an exciting historical detective thriller. This is a page-turner book that is very hard to put down. This is my first time to read a book by D. B. Bolton, and it certainly won’t be my last!! I have read this book to enjoy it and also to leave an arc review.
Houston became a popular place that summer of 1961. The wealthy and affluent businessmen and politicians have gotten together for a special meeting for what? The dock workers are on strike. Is there an agitator helping to stir up the situation more? The Freedom Riders are busy with protests at lunch counters and at theatres. Segregation and integration are at the forefront of this. Who or what group is paying for this? There are rumors of a space center to be built somewhere in the US? Could Houston be in the running for this? Who and who not there in Houston might or might not want a space center there? To add to all of this, there are a couple of mobsters to contend with. A private investigator Harry Lark and guys who work with him and law enforcement join forces to solve the various events of that summer.
Harry’s daughter Dizzy and her friends start a Lost and found in the garage. The kids in the neighborhood come by regularly to check to see what is available. A young girl comes by and wants Dizzy and her friends to help find her father who is lost. Harry has trained Dizzy in some things in the detective world plus Dizzy has observed what Harry has done in other areas.
All these storylines converge into one to make this an exciting historical detective thriller. This is a page-turner book that is very hard to put down. This is my first time to read a book by D. B. Bolton, and it certainly won’t be my last!! I have read this book to enjoy it and also to leave an arc review.
June 1, 2019
It’s evident from the very first line that BAYOU CITY BURNING will be a throwback to the 1930-40s hardboiled fiction. The difference is that instead of Prohibition, in this book set in 1961 Houston, society is dealing with desegregation and space wars. But like any good hardboiled PI story, it still features a tough, wise-cracking PI with his own moral code, willing to bend the law for a good cause while dealing with both the mob and the corrupt political system.
Harry Lark is hired by a stranger to follow a couple NASA engineers and report on their activities. The stranger won’t say why, but he’ll pay—and Harry’s got bills. He thinks it’s over when he hands in the report, but the plot thickens when the stranger is later found murdered in Harry’s office.
Meanwhile, Harry’s 12-year-old daughter Dizzy—her father’s mini-me in personality if not looks—opens a Lost and Found with two friends. They aren’t expecting to be asked to find a “lost” father, but that’s what happens when 7-year-old Sissy doesn’t believe her father really died a train wreck. A Barbie doll arrived in the mail on her birthday, and she’s sure her father sent it. Dizzy and her friends agree to take the case.
It seems that father and daughter are working two very different mysteries, though they help each other out with advice, ideas, and (sometimes unbelievable) actions. However, author D.B. Borton manages to bring the cases together slicker than Harry’s oiled hair.
The pleasure in reading BAYOU CITY BURNING comes from both the delightful prose—which is full of wit, slang, and similes—and the characters. For although Harry is a hardboiled PI, he’s also contemplative and a caring father; and Dizzy is as empathetic as she is precocious. They’re a perfect team. I look forward to their next appearance.
My review is given honestly although I was given an advance copy of the book.
Harry Lark is hired by a stranger to follow a couple NASA engineers and report on their activities. The stranger won’t say why, but he’ll pay—and Harry’s got bills. He thinks it’s over when he hands in the report, but the plot thickens when the stranger is later found murdered in Harry’s office.
Meanwhile, Harry’s 12-year-old daughter Dizzy—her father’s mini-me in personality if not looks—opens a Lost and Found with two friends. They aren’t expecting to be asked to find a “lost” father, but that’s what happens when 7-year-old Sissy doesn’t believe her father really died a train wreck. A Barbie doll arrived in the mail on her birthday, and she’s sure her father sent it. Dizzy and her friends agree to take the case.
It seems that father and daughter are working two very different mysteries, though they help each other out with advice, ideas, and (sometimes unbelievable) actions. However, author D.B. Borton manages to bring the cases together slicker than Harry’s oiled hair.
The pleasure in reading BAYOU CITY BURNING comes from both the delightful prose—which is full of wit, slang, and similes—and the characters. For although Harry is a hardboiled PI, he’s also contemplative and a caring father; and Dizzy is as empathetic as she is precocious. They’re a perfect team. I look forward to their next appearance.
My review is given honestly although I was given an advance copy of the book.
August 9, 2019
This is a gem of a book, and I highly recommend it. It's the summer of 1961 in Houston, and private detective Harry Lark is hired to look into a pair of visitors who have an interest in building a Space Center there. Then a man ends up dead, and Harry's focus changes.
Meanwhile, his 12 year old daughter Dizzy gets a case of her own. Dizzy and her friends are aspiring Nancy Drews, and when a little girl in the neighborhood comes to them asking to prove that her daddy didn't die in a recent train wreck, they learn the the highly improbable belief is actually possible.
The two cases cross paths, and father and daughter team up to solve each other's mysteries in a noir story that lives in the history of Houston during 1961.
I thoroughly enjoyed the characters of Dizzy and Harry. Their father daughter relationship is charming in a hard boiled detective story kind of way. I'm somewhat reminded of the relationship in the movie Paper Moon, and I'm not sure why.
And speaking of movies, I think this has a great potential to be considered for one. There is a diverse supporting cast, as the civil rights movement factors into the plot, and the equally diverse culture of Houston is well portrayed. Weird suggestion-- if the author can get the attention of some Texas born actor like, say "Jensen Ackles," I could totally picture him in the role of Harry. I know, that's a silly idea... but what if... I hear he's free in about a year...
My only criticism is that, as smart as Dizzy is, I sometimes felt that her first person narrative sounded too adult for her character. But that's a minor complaint that I can forgive.
Thanks to NetGalley for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
Meanwhile, his 12 year old daughter Dizzy gets a case of her own. Dizzy and her friends are aspiring Nancy Drews, and when a little girl in the neighborhood comes to them asking to prove that her daddy didn't die in a recent train wreck, they learn the the highly improbable belief is actually possible.
The two cases cross paths, and father and daughter team up to solve each other's mysteries in a noir story that lives in the history of Houston during 1961.
I thoroughly enjoyed the characters of Dizzy and Harry. Their father daughter relationship is charming in a hard boiled detective story kind of way. I'm somewhat reminded of the relationship in the movie Paper Moon, and I'm not sure why.
And speaking of movies, I think this has a great potential to be considered for one. There is a diverse supporting cast, as the civil rights movement factors into the plot, and the equally diverse culture of Houston is well portrayed. Weird suggestion-- if the author can get the attention of some Texas born actor like, say "Jensen Ackles," I could totally picture him in the role of Harry. I know, that's a silly idea... but what if... I hear he's free in about a year...
My only criticism is that, as smart as Dizzy is, I sometimes felt that her first person narrative sounded too adult for her character. But that's a minor complaint that I can forgive.
Thanks to NetGalley for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
May 24, 2019
July 1969 and the first man is walking on the moon, amazing as that may be! Backtrack to May 1961, before this auspicious occasion, when plans were just in the beginning stages. The heat is slowly climbing in Houston, Texas and the air conditioners are running overtime. Harry Lark P.I. is hired by Mr. Smith to tail two fellows who are coming down from Washington, D.C. who are looking into space research. In the meanwhile, Dizzy Lark and several friends are starting their own business - lost and found. Having had great success with Billy’s cat, they were becoming quite busy when young Sissy comes and asks them to find her father. Since he had apparently been killed in a train wreck, they didn’t think this would be very difficult. As they set about to find out all the detail they can, Harry is busy with the fallout of his job with Mr. Smith. What follows is a story that touches on segregation in the Deep South before the Civil rights Act of 1964. Between race and labor troubles, bombs and missing money, rare gems and a missing father, both Harry and Dizzy are deep in the detective work. Will they survive this unscathed?
As one who prefers historical fiction, and sometimes suspense, a crime drama was a stretch for me. In the beginning, I found it difficult to figure out where the author was going with this novel. As the action heated up, the story became more difficult to put aside. I found the ending very satisfying!
I received this Egalley for my perusal with no expectation of a positive review. All impressions and opinions are my own.
As one who prefers historical fiction, and sometimes suspense, a crime drama was a stretch for me. In the beginning, I found it difficult to figure out where the author was going with this novel. As the action heated up, the story became more difficult to put aside. I found the ending very satisfying!
I received this Egalley for my perusal with no expectation of a positive review. All impressions and opinions are my own.
June 6, 2019
The author took great pains to research and create a gumshoe mystery of that point in time in early just turned 1960s of Texas. It reads like many of the old detective books from the 50s to 1960s I read at a bit later than 1961.[Had a huge trove of paperbacks I was allowed to go through when my grandfather got a trailer filled with stuff as a child] She sets the pace and mindset of the time and also the reality of oppression. One thing of note to add is that literally it was life threatening in the north a well as the south when it came to equality of all both for the
Black as as well as people that tried to help them gain rights, especially in the south.. There wasn't the hippie you owe me white saviour mentality so much as doing what was right for many.individuals involved. This was a cut fast read and apparently the first of a series. I put put them under he cozy but set back in time and a bit grittier.
Black as as well as people that tried to help them gain rights, especially in the south.. There wasn't the hippie you owe me white saviour mentality so much as doing what was right for many.individuals involved. This was a cut fast read and apparently the first of a series. I put put them under he cozy but set back in time and a bit grittier.
June 2, 2019
Greatly suspenseful
Borton pens a great story in Bayou City Burning, featuring Harry and his daughter, Dizzy. Both have their own mystery to solve, in Houston, 1961. This is the first book of Borton's that I've read, and I really enjoyed it, especially the characters. The relationship between Dizzy and Harry lends to a great backbone of the story. I like the writing style and this reader was brought into the action. Filled with twists and paths that to lead to each other, brings an interesting story. I look forward to reading more by this author.
Borton pens a great story in Bayou City Burning, featuring Harry and his daughter, Dizzy. Both have their own mystery to solve, in Houston, 1961. This is the first book of Borton's that I've read, and I really enjoyed it, especially the characters. The relationship between Dizzy and Harry lends to a great backbone of the story. I like the writing style and this reader was brought into the action. Filled with twists and paths that to lead to each other, brings an interesting story. I look forward to reading more by this author.
September 16, 2021
What a great historical fiction novel. Bayou City Burning was very well written and I could not put the book down until the very end. Cannot wait to read more from this author!
The story is about a seedy downtown office, where a well-dressed out-of-towner hires P.I. Harry Lark to tail two D.C. visitors looking to build NASA a space centre. The more Harry finds, the more he suspects he’s working for the wrong side and vows to wash his hands of the case. Meanwhile, Harry’s twelve-year-old daughter Dizzy is puzzling over a mystery of her own—she’s running a lost-and-found out of a suburban garage and is unexpectedly hired to find a missing dad who’s supposed to be dead and buried.
The story is about a seedy downtown office, where a well-dressed out-of-towner hires P.I. Harry Lark to tail two D.C. visitors looking to build NASA a space centre. The more Harry finds, the more he suspects he’s working for the wrong side and vows to wash his hands of the case. Meanwhile, Harry’s twelve-year-old daughter Dizzy is puzzling over a mystery of her own—she’s running a lost-and-found out of a suburban garage and is unexpectedly hired to find a missing dad who’s supposed to be dead and buried.
June 9, 2021
He can’t stand the weather??? I am currently melting!!! Back to the story though!!! NASA and the Mob??? What is the connection??? AND did you know that a nickname for Houston is Bayou City??? It started with a little girl searching for her father. And … I enjoyed the story and recommend the book,
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