Done For A Dime

by David Corbett

Satisfaction is a commodity in short supply for the myriad characters populating Done for a Dime, private eye-turned-author David Corbett's affecting follow-up to his debut novel, The Devil's Redhead. Among the significantly short-changed is Raymond "Strong" Carlisle, an irascible black saxophonist who used to play with the giants of blues music, but now does only about four gigs a year, "if he's lucky, with a bunch of sorry old men the business forgot long ago." When Carlisle is shot dead at his home in Rio Mirada, an increasingly crime-plagued burg north of San Francisco, the cops, including lead detective Dennis Murchison and his racist partner, Jerry Stluka, figure it's the tragic result of a nightclub fight he'd provoked the evening before. Their two prime suspects: Arlie Thigpen, a gang tough employed by a local drug dealer; and Toby Marchand, Carlisle's musician son, who'd chafed under his elder's incessant tauntings, and whose white teenage lover, Nadya Lazarenko, witnessed the homicide--but is too traumatized to remember anything about it. However, Carlisle's death is merely a harbinger of worse troubles to come, among them a neighborhood-destroying fire engineered by greedy developers.

Regrettably, that cinematic hillside conflagration diverts attention from Corbett's more interesting study of people trying to cope with the inequitable vicissitudes of life. Murchison, for instance, comes off as a conflicted mix of determination and desperation, a man terminally unable to fulfill the expectations of his wife and parents. For Marchand, the challenge is to reject his late father's cynicism and find hope in Nadya's embrace, even as she refuses to trust in something so ephemeral as happiness. Other well-formed players here--from a suspect's strong-willed mother, to a smart and fetching lawyer who confuses Murchison's heart, to a cop-turned-hired killer who isn't so transparently evil as he initially appears--struggle to achieve their own forms of justice in an unjust world. Corbett has a sharp ear for street dialogue and an even sharper understanding of human emotion and pain. For a book that's all about dissatisfaction, Done for a Dime is decidedly satisfying. --J. Kingston Pierce

Genres: Mystery Thriller, Mystery

368 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

David Corbett is the author of seven novels: The Devil’s Redhead (nominated for the Anthony and Barry Awards for Best First Novel) Done for a Dime (a New York Times Notable Book and nominated for the Macavity Award for Best Novel), Blood of Paradise (nominated for numerous awards, including the Edgar), Do They Know I’m Running (Spinetingler Award, Best Novel—Rising Star Category 2011), The Mercy of the Night, The Long-Lost Love Letters of Doc Holliday (nominated for the Lefty Award for Best Historical Mystery), and The Truth Against the World (June, 2023).

David’s short fiction and poetry have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies, with two stories selected for Best American Mystery Stories.

In 2012, Mysterious Press/Open Road Media re-issued his four novels plus a story collection, Thirteen Confessions, in ebook format.

In January 2013 Penguin published his textbook on the craft of characterization, The Art of Character (“A writer’s bible that will lead to your character’s soul.” —Elizabeth Brundage). he followed this up with The Compass of Character (Writers Digest Books).

He has taught creative writing at the UCLA Extension Writers’ Project, Chuck Pahalniuk’s Litreactor, 826 Valencia, The Grotto in San Francisco, Book Passage, and at writing conference across the country. He is also a monthly contributor to Writer Unboxed, an award-winning blog dedicated to the craft and business of fiction.

Before becoming a novelist, David spent fifteen years as an investigator for the San Francisco private detective agency Palladino & Sutherland, working on such high-profile civil and criminal litigations as The DeLorean Case, the Peoples Temple Trial, the Lincoln Savings & Loan Scandal, the Cotton Club Murder Case, the Michael Jackson child molestation investigation and a RICO action brought by the Teamsters against members of organized crime.

Reviews

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

'Done for a Dime' is a hard book to categorise. Initially a by the numbers police procedural accompanied by a soulful backdrop then morphing into a family drama before completing its evolution to a contained dystopia following the horrific aftermath of a community-wide arson attack. Each subsidiary to the overarching tale deepened the story with added layers of perspective and emotional connectivity between the seemingly unlinked characters - so the path wasn't hard to follow, just the direction.

I cant help but think 'Done for a Dime' would've been best served focusing on a single element rather than dividing direction. That said, Corbett did a great job at linking each thread and providing enough context to complement one another. One of the strengths to the story is its many memorable scenes, from the horrific aftermath of the fire (without spoiling - there's a bathtub and three bodies in particular) to the brutal yet fitting finale all delivered in vivid detail and smooth imagery.

In summary, the main character changed a little too often for my liking (from victim's son to girlfriend, to cop, to local thug) which perhaps lead to a slight stutter of momentum on what is really a fast following plot. I liken the pacing to THE WIRE where a single event becomes all encompassing in due course with no over the top dramatisation, just hard nosed fact amongst fiction. Not as solid as 'The Devils Redhead' or the fantastic 'Blood of Paradise' but still serviceable and well worth a look - 3 stars.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

David Corbett's "Done for a Dime" is a damn fine read. If you are looking for crime fiction with an intense sense of place, a deft sense of human psychology and complexity, and finally a sure sense of narrative drive, well, that's the novel. A second novel, too, that rises above--in terms of narrative complexity and multiple POVs--a very fine first novel. So, "Done for a Dime": dig in, I tell you--oh, and father/son dynamics, crooked politicians, murder and arson, sympathetic and unsympathetic homicide detectives, and jazz too.

[Carl Upthegrove · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not your typical mystery. Not your typical crime novel. This got me hooked from the start and wouldn’t let go. I rate this as true noir based on the ending alone. Great characters and really good writing. The plot takes some liberties but hey .....it’s a novel.

[Keith Skinner · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are many aspects that I loved about this book. The prologue really sets the tone and puts you inside the thoughts of Strong Carlisle. It sets the stage well for the events that will unfold in chapter 1. The crime scene in chapter 1 is brilliant. Corbett puts you in the middle of all the mayhem that you would experience in that situation, the random glimpses of other people and other situations beginning to form. In general, Corbett spends a lot of time on detail. You know and understand the neighborhood that is the center of the drama. The characters, for the most part, are tangible, convincing. At times, I feel the author carries the detail a bit two far, expending effort on describing attributes of minor characters that are of little consequence. On the flip side, characters like Mrs. Grimes are masterful and the action scenes are literally breath-taking. I was somewhat disappointed with the final two chapters but would I read it again? Absolutely.

I kept a journal while reading this book. There are many memorable lines but my favorite is Strong Carlisle's comment to his son's girlfriend in a club: "...that skirt you're in — barely covers your home life. Any shorter, it'd be a hat."

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

David Corbett’s second book with its wonderful title is not his most focused affair. A few strands are connected to his first and third books which could arguably make them a loose trilogy (very loose), but few never resolve which may be on purpose. But whether or not it is a slightly disjointed read veering from family drama, character study, murder mystery, a police procedural(showing a Richard Price influence), and then in the middle everything fades away and an apocalyptic fire erupts and disrupts and casts everything in a different light. The set piece of the fire is horrific and unsettling in a way that the rest of the book isn’t. In the end this book makes a good addition to Corbett’s growing collection of books set in a dismal gritty Northern California (with trips to Central America and Mexico) a fertile world for his imaginative political disgusts and human drama.

[Pam]

11/23/07 rec via pbs

[Dave Peticolas · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice gritty crime drama set in Northern California.

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed the book, though I was surprised by the ending.