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The Big Man's Daughter
18 year-old Rita Gaspereaux is suddenly "orphaned" when her con-artist father's illegal enterprise blows up around her. Alone and broke in San Francisco 1922, she must now navigate his criminal world, all the time haunted by tales of a black bird statuette reputed to possess otherworldly, wish-fulfilling powers. Rita has learned much from her father about the dark fringes of society. But has she learned enough? Fortunately, she is not without her own resources. What helps her most to cope with the greed, cruelty, and deceit around her is her almost obsessive reading of fiction, particularly the novel she possesses (and is possessed by) at the time of her father’s death. This book-within-the-book, a source of escape and solace for the blossoming young con-artist, tells the story of another 18 year-old, a Dorothy G. from Kansas. The two young women couldn't be more different. But as the story proceeds their lives become entwined in unexpected ways. The haunting conclusion is breathtaking.
- GenresNoir
184 pages, Paperback
First published May 19, 2020
About the author
Owen Fitzstephen
3 books4 followersGordon McAlpine (who sometimes writes as “Owen Fitzstephen”) is the author of Mystery Box (2003), Hammett Unwritten (2013), Woman With a Blue Pencil (2015), and Holmes Untangled (2018)–all shape-shifting novels that play fast and loose with the mystery genre, as well as a middle-grade trilogy, The Misadventures of Edgar and Allan Poe. He’s also the co-author of the non-fiction book The Way of Baseball: Finding Stillness at 95 MPH. He has taught creative writing and literature at U.C. Irvine, U.C.L.A., and Chapman University. He lives with his wife Julie in Southern California. “Owen Fitzstephen,” by the way, is the name of a character, a dissolute, alcoholic writer, in Hammett’s The Dain Curse.
Gordon McAlpine is the Edgar Award nominated author of the literary mystery novels, Holmes Entangled, Woman with a Blue Pencil, and Hammett Unwritten, as well as other acclaimed novels and non-fiction. He is also the author of an award winning trilogy of novels for middle grade readers, "The Misadventures of Edgar and Allan Poe". He has published short fiction in journals and anthologies both in the U.S.A and abroad. A graduate of the M.F.A. program in creative writing at U.C. Irvine, he taught for many years at Chapman University in Orange, California.
In March 2018 Seventh Street Books published McAlpine's literary mystery novel Holmes Entangled, which Booklist, in a starred review, called "a fascinating read, smart and entertaining..." In 2015, Seventh Street Books published the Edgar nominated Woman With a Blue Pencil, about which Publishers Weekly wrote in a starred review: "McAlpine's greatest accomplishment is that the book works both as a conventional mystery story and as a deconstruction of the genre's ideology: whichever strand readers latch on to, the parallel stories pack a brutal punch." Joyce Carol Oates wrote that Woman with a Blue Pencil is a novel, "that Kafka, Borges, and Nabokov, as well as Dashiell Hammett, would have appreciated."
In 2013, Seventh Street Books published Hammett Unwritten, written under the pen name Owen Fitzstephen, to equally enthusiastic reviews. The Gumshoe Review wrote: "Hammett Unwritten raises questions about the nature of fiction and those who create it that will stay with you long after you finish the book." Paste Magazine raved: "Hammett Unwritten accomplishes the next-best thing to writing the unwritten--it satisfies the insatiable longing for another Dashiell Hammett novel... In a way far more satisfying than the truth could ever be, it answers the nagging question of why Hammett never wrote another book... [It] gives his life the hard-boiled second act it most certainly deserved."
Between 2013 - 2015, Viking published McAlpine's middle grade trilogy of novels, "The Misadventures of Edgar and Allan Poe", which consists of The Tell-Tale Start (2013), Once Upon a Midnight Eerie (2014), and The Pet and the Pendulum (2015). Publishers Weekly referred to the series in a starred review as "Entertaining and original...Endlessly fun and ultimately very satisfying on every level." The audio version of The Tell-Tale Start was selected as Audible.com's Best Children's Book, 2013.
The Los Angeles Times called Mr. McAlpine's first novel, Joy in Mudville (1989), an "imaginative mix of history, humor and fantasy...fanciful and surprising", and The West Coast Review of Books called it "a minor miracle." Joy in Mudville was re-released in 2012.
The Way of Baseball, Finding Stillness at 95 MPH (2011), McAlpine's first book of non-fiction, was written in collaboration with Major League All-Star Shawn Green and was published by Simon and Schuster to outstanding reviews.
McAlpine's other novels include The Persistence of Memory (1998), and Mystery Box (2003).
He is a member of the Author's Guild, PEN USA, The Mystery Writers of America, the International Association of Crime Writers and The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. He lives in Southern California with his wi
Gordon McAlpine is the Edgar Award nominated author of the literary mystery novels, Holmes Entangled, Woman with a Blue Pencil, and Hammett Unwritten, as well as other acclaimed novels and non-fiction. He is also the author of an award winning trilogy of novels for middle grade readers, "The Misadventures of Edgar and Allan Poe". He has published short fiction in journals and anthologies both in the U.S.A and abroad. A graduate of the M.F.A. program in creative writing at U.C. Irvine, he taught for many years at Chapman University in Orange, California.
In March 2018 Seventh Street Books published McAlpine's literary mystery novel Holmes Entangled, which Booklist, in a starred review, called "a fascinating read, smart and entertaining..." In 2015, Seventh Street Books published the Edgar nominated Woman With a Blue Pencil, about which Publishers Weekly wrote in a starred review: "McAlpine's greatest accomplishment is that the book works both as a conventional mystery story and as a deconstruction of the genre's ideology: whichever strand readers latch on to, the parallel stories pack a brutal punch." Joyce Carol Oates wrote that Woman with a Blue Pencil is a novel, "that Kafka, Borges, and Nabokov, as well as Dashiell Hammett, would have appreciated."
In 2013, Seventh Street Books published Hammett Unwritten, written under the pen name Owen Fitzstephen, to equally enthusiastic reviews. The Gumshoe Review wrote: "Hammett Unwritten raises questions about the nature of fiction and those who create it that will stay with you long after you finish the book." Paste Magazine raved: "Hammett Unwritten accomplishes the next-best thing to writing the unwritten--it satisfies the insatiable longing for another Dashiell Hammett novel... In a way far more satisfying than the truth could ever be, it answers the nagging question of why Hammett never wrote another book... [It] gives his life the hard-boiled second act it most certainly deserved."
Between 2013 - 2015, Viking published McAlpine's middle grade trilogy of novels, "The Misadventures of Edgar and Allan Poe", which consists of The Tell-Tale Start (2013), Once Upon a Midnight Eerie (2014), and The Pet and the Pendulum (2015). Publishers Weekly referred to the series in a starred review as "Entertaining and original...Endlessly fun and ultimately very satisfying on every level." The audio version of The Tell-Tale Start was selected as Audible.com's Best Children's Book, 2013.
The Los Angeles Times called Mr. McAlpine's first novel, Joy in Mudville (1989), an "imaginative mix of history, humor and fantasy...fanciful and surprising", and The West Coast Review of Books called it "a minor miracle." Joy in Mudville was re-released in 2012.
The Way of Baseball, Finding Stillness at 95 MPH (2011), McAlpine's first book of non-fiction, was written in collaboration with Major League All-Star Shawn Green and was published by Simon and Schuster to outstanding reviews.
McAlpine's other novels include The Persistence of Memory (1998), and Mystery Box (2003).
He is a member of the Author's Guild, PEN USA, The Mystery Writers of America, the International Association of Crime Writers and The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. He lives in Southern California with his wi
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
November 17, 2021
Interesting and strange book.
There's a clear echo of Phillip Pullman's Sally Lockhart books, which is a true compliment in terms of lively prose, less so in terms of how the many plot machinations just can't quite land.
The dual-classic fan fiction (a Dorothy of Oz and Dashiell Hammett mashup?!?) works better than you might think, for longer than you might think, but ultimately, for me, fizzles.
That said, still lots to recommend in this book. Its a good, entertaining read, with some interesting and playful ideas, all of which is too rare these days...
There's a clear echo of Phillip Pullman's Sally Lockhart books, which is a true compliment in terms of lively prose, less so in terms of how the many plot machinations just can't quite land.
The dual-classic fan fiction (a Dorothy of Oz and Dashiell Hammett mashup?!?) works better than you might think, for longer than you might think, but ultimately, for me, fizzles.
That said, still lots to recommend in this book. Its a good, entertaining read, with some interesting and playful ideas, all of which is too rare these days...
Read
December 28, 2021a curious romp.
October 25, 2020
In its opening scene, Rita Gaspereaux makes funeral arrangements for her con artist father whose illicit enterprise has come to a sudden and fatal end. Having been schooled in the finer points of scamming funeral directors, the young woman realizes a bit too late that this mortician was a victim of a prior scheme and he was not about to let it happen again. It is a testament to her father’s example that she expertly weasels out of her predicament and gets what she wants.
Liberated from her father’s unseemly influence, 18-year-old Rita dreams of becoming a Hollywood movie star, but try as she might, she can’t seem to shake free of her father’s obsessive pursuit of a priceless black bird statuette. Sound familiar?
Fitzstephen gives us a clever sequel to Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon, focusing on a minor character from the original, renaming and rewarding her with a story of her own. Broke, with only the pages of Dorothy G. (a novel reimagining the life of Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz) for consolation, Rita agrees to help a Pinkerton secretary and professor recover the statuette from a Russian count who may possibly be Rita’s biological father. In reality, Rita schemes to steal the secretary’s bankroll and pursue her dream, but in unreality is where the story ends. With a wink and a nod to noir crime and Dashiell Hammett’s legacy, this is sure to please fans of both.
Liberated from her father’s unseemly influence, 18-year-old Rita dreams of becoming a Hollywood movie star, but try as she might, she can’t seem to shake free of her father’s obsessive pursuit of a priceless black bird statuette. Sound familiar?
Fitzstephen gives us a clever sequel to Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon, focusing on a minor character from the original, renaming and rewarding her with a story of her own. Broke, with only the pages of Dorothy G. (a novel reimagining the life of Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz) for consolation, Rita agrees to help a Pinkerton secretary and professor recover the statuette from a Russian count who may possibly be Rita’s biological father. In reality, Rita schemes to steal the secretary’s bankroll and pursue her dream, but in unreality is where the story ends. With a wink and a nod to noir crime and Dashiell Hammett’s legacy, this is sure to please fans of both.
October 22, 2020
What happened to a minor character from a classic detective novel? This author takes the character from the end of that novel into her own story. I especially liked how the author interwove the story of his main character with the story in the novel she was reading. It led to an ending that surprised me. Overall a very satisfying read. I got this book in the mail yesterday from my mystery book club and finished it today.
November 5, 2020
This was an odd little book that had some good points, some less-than-good points, and some points that defy categorization. I'll give it a moderate recommendation for fans of noir-ish mysteries, books based off of films, and fans of stories-within-stories.
The book -- a thinly veiled sequel to The Maltese Falcon, with the names changed presumably to protect the author from copyright infringement -- follows Rita Gaspereaux, the daughter of a successful grifter (The Big Man here, The Fat Man in the original movie/book), after the events of the original story in which her father was killed. Rita is trying desperately to get out of the grifting game and into work in Hollywood as an actress, but first she needs to get enough money to get herself out of San Francisco. As she plies her con trade for a final few times to earn the money, she becomes captivated with a book (another thinly veiled sequel, this time to The Wizard of Oz, featuring Dorothy as a young adult exploring her more licentious side). Broke and searching for a way out, Rita is approached by a woman claiming to be the secretary of a private investigator claiming to know how to find the "black bird statuette" that was at the heart of the original story. The secretary waves a wad of cash at Rita (the equivalent in today's dollars of more than $60K), so Rita plays along until she can get away with the cash to start her movie career. Of course, she gets caught up in the search for the bird, meeting strange and nefarious people along the way, from time to time seeing what new vice Dorothy is enjoying in the book, until she's faced with a deadly final confrontation.
The plot was interesting -- given the twin genres of "Bogart noir" in the main book and "growing into womanhood in the jazz age" in the book-within-the-book, the narrative styles kind of ping-pong back and forth. Both stories were intriguing, but it wasn't entirely clear how they meshed together, or what the purpose of going so in-depth into Rita's reading habits might have been. That said, Rita was a sufficiently jaded young con artist who showed some resourcefulness without totally losing all of her humanity, and the plot moved along rather well for a noir story (some of which can kind of drag while they spend so much time focusing on the brooding main characters). At times the author seemed like he was trying too hard to squeeze in as many references to classic detective fiction stories or characters as he could, to the point at which I almost thought I was back in my Detective Fiction comparative literature class in college. The conclusion was a little odd, slightly diverting from the noir theme to go more of a fantastical route, so I was a bit disappointed with how things wrapped up, but the story was weird and captivating enough to make it somewhat likable as a whole.
The mechanics could have used a little work, as there was an inconsistent use of past tense and present tense in the narrative, as there was a general lack of subject matter commas, and as there were some spelling/syntax mistakes (like "pneumonic" instead of "mnemonic").
Overall, it's a strange book that I'm not sorry I read, although I kind of wish that there would have been less of an attempt to disguise the stories upon which the book is based (if you're going to do a spinoff or sequel to a well-known book, at least be up front about it). I give it a moderate recommendation for fans of Sam Spade, people who like Inception-level stories-within-stories, and readers who like stories about conwomen.
Thanks to Seventh Street Books (and my Queen of the Book Fairies) for providing me with a copy of this book.
The book -- a thinly veiled sequel to The Maltese Falcon, with the names changed presumably to protect the author from copyright infringement -- follows Rita Gaspereaux, the daughter of a successful grifter (The Big Man here, The Fat Man in the original movie/book), after the events of the original story in which her father was killed. Rita is trying desperately to get out of the grifting game and into work in Hollywood as an actress, but first she needs to get enough money to get herself out of San Francisco. As she plies her con trade for a final few times to earn the money, she becomes captivated with a book (another thinly veiled sequel, this time to The Wizard of Oz, featuring Dorothy as a young adult exploring her more licentious side). Broke and searching for a way out, Rita is approached by a woman claiming to be the secretary of a private investigator claiming to know how to find the "black bird statuette" that was at the heart of the original story. The secretary waves a wad of cash at Rita (the equivalent in today's dollars of more than $60K), so Rita plays along until she can get away with the cash to start her movie career. Of course, she gets caught up in the search for the bird, meeting strange and nefarious people along the way, from time to time seeing what new vice Dorothy is enjoying in the book, until she's faced with a deadly final confrontation.
The plot was interesting -- given the twin genres of "Bogart noir" in the main book and "growing into womanhood in the jazz age" in the book-within-the-book, the narrative styles kind of ping-pong back and forth. Both stories were intriguing, but it wasn't entirely clear how they meshed together, or what the purpose of going so in-depth into Rita's reading habits might have been. That said, Rita was a sufficiently jaded young con artist who showed some resourcefulness without totally losing all of her humanity, and the plot moved along rather well for a noir story (some of which can kind of drag while they spend so much time focusing on the brooding main characters). At times the author seemed like he was trying too hard to squeeze in as many references to classic detective fiction stories or characters as he could, to the point at which I almost thought I was back in my Detective Fiction comparative literature class in college. The conclusion was a little odd, slightly diverting from the noir theme to go more of a fantastical route, so I was a bit disappointed with how things wrapped up, but the story was weird and captivating enough to make it somewhat likable as a whole.
The mechanics could have used a little work, as there was an inconsistent use of past tense and present tense in the narrative, as there was a general lack of subject matter commas, and as there were some spelling/syntax mistakes (like "pneumonic" instead of "mnemonic").
Overall, it's a strange book that I'm not sorry I read, although I kind of wish that there would have been less of an attempt to disguise the stories upon which the book is based (if you're going to do a spinoff or sequel to a well-known book, at least be up front about it). I give it a moderate recommendation for fans of Sam Spade, people who like Inception-level stories-within-stories, and readers who like stories about conwomen.
Thanks to Seventh Street Books (and my Queen of the Book Fairies) for providing me with a copy of this book.
September 9, 2020
A life of grifting and other criminal enterprises is all Rita Gasperaux knows. It’s a life she didn’t choose and wants to put some distance between it and herself. She has a plan. Get to Hollywood and become a film star. Nothing works out the way it’s supposed to and Rita finds herself entangled in a venture to retrieve a statuette that is said to contain magical powers.
I liked the 1920’s vibe the book had. I also liked how everyone made no apologies for the kind of person they were. Good or bad. Even though Rita was trying to put that life behind her, she still found ways to scheme. Old habits die hard. Once a con artist, always a con artist. The ending was a nice twist and one I didn’t expect or see coming. Bravo Mr. Fitzstephen!
This is a great read. It’s two books in one! You’ll see once you start reading. I enjoyed this author’s writing style and will look for more works by him. I give this 4 stars.
**Review has been done in conjunction with Nerd Girl Official. For more information regarding our reviews please visit our Fansite: www.facebook.com/NerdGirl.ng**
I liked the 1920’s vibe the book had. I also liked how everyone made no apologies for the kind of person they were. Good or bad. Even though Rita was trying to put that life behind her, she still found ways to scheme. Old habits die hard. Once a con artist, always a con artist. The ending was a nice twist and one I didn’t expect or see coming. Bravo Mr. Fitzstephen!
This is a great read. It’s two books in one! You’ll see once you start reading. I enjoyed this author’s writing style and will look for more works by him. I give this 4 stars.
**Review has been done in conjunction with Nerd Girl Official. For more information regarding our reviews please visit our Fansite: www.facebook.com/NerdGirl.ng**
December 1, 2022
So this takes a minor character from the Maltese Falcon and tells her tale after the story. She tries to make her own way and unwittingly gets caught up in yet another quest for the Falcon. All along, she's reading a book about Dorothy Gale, after the events of Wizard of Oz.
I enjoy noir. I enjoy story within a story. I like heists or cons. In the end, it doesn't quite hit any of those great. The story within a story pulled me out of it a bit, and I'm not sure the payoff was worth it. Ultimately, it's solid, but a little forgettable.
I enjoy noir. I enjoy story within a story. I like heists or cons. In the end, it doesn't quite hit any of those great. The story within a story pulled me out of it a bit, and I'm not sure the payoff was worth it. Ultimately, it's solid, but a little forgettable.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews