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Frank Trinity Novels #1
Trinity Works Alone
Tucson, Arizona. Hot already and the temperature's rising.One body is found dead near the Navajo reservation, another in a canyon north of the city.Where's Lisa Brooks?Nobody knows.Frank Trinity's been hired to find her.Who killed Livingston Graves?His brother Edison wants revenge.In the cross-hairs, a drifter named Parrot.A maze of mescaline, murder, and deceit...
- GenresCrime
198 pages, Paperback
Published July 9, 2019
About the author
Trevor Holliday
31 books16 followersI was born in Houston, Texas and while growing up lived in Maine and Ohio. While I was in the army, I served in Korea and Turkey. I taught school in northern Arizona for over twenty years and in the United Arab Emirates for five. My wife Carolyn Holliday and I now live in Erie County, Pennsylvania.
My paintings and novels can be found at trevorholliday.com
My paintings and novels can be found at trevorholliday.com
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
May 6, 2022
Extremely readable, fast-paced detective story set in Tucson. Frank Trinity, former CID investigator and current PI, gets a case from a hapless rich guy: find the missing daughter. Meanwhile, Edison Graves, a young Native American writer who left his family to seek an education back East, is trying to track down the man who killed his older brother. Will their cases overlap? (Hint: maybe!) Will they cooperate (Hint: title!).
There's a lot of granular specific Arizona detail that elevates this book above the common run. You actually feel the heat, which is already well under way before 8 AM. The descriptions of the landscape, the plantlife, the mercurial and dangerous weather. The artifical environments are also well-described: from Trinity's dank detective lair to the frat houses and mansions of the people he's investigating, every setting is invested with lots of telling detail (not too much, though!).
Trinity himself is a good, solid detective character. I was put in mind of Ross Macdonald's Lew Archer, a somewhat lonely guy investigating the problems of families both wealthy and poor. I think some of his idle fantasies about women were less than interesting, and made me roll my eyes a few times, but then, that's what people really are like.
The prose quality is very good: Holliday generally sticks to a lean, hard-boiled style, but is not above swinging the bat a few times. The one thing I had to adjust to was the paragraph structure---the author favors a staccato, one-sentence-paragraph style for much of the book, which interrupts the flow of ideas and description. I think this can be very successful at getting across the segmented thought process of the POV character sometimes, particularly in scenes of heightened awareness or action, but other times I found myself wishing that related sentences had been bundled together in the customary fashion. This might just be my taste, as I found the same thing very distracting when reading the Underworld USA books by James Ellroy. Overall, though, the prose is quite good, showing care and diligence without appearing seeming precious or worked-over. Many of the chapters are _extremely_ short, so the book feels like it flies by, making it an ideal beach read if you have any summer vacation plans coming up.
Conclusion: if you want a breezy, funny detective tale with some great local detail, please check out Trinity Works Alone. Once I hack through my TBR pile I know I will be checking out the rest of the works in the Frank Trinity series.
There's a lot of granular specific Arizona detail that elevates this book above the common run. You actually feel the heat, which is already well under way before 8 AM. The descriptions of the landscape, the plantlife, the mercurial and dangerous weather. The artifical environments are also well-described: from Trinity's dank detective lair to the frat houses and mansions of the people he's investigating, every setting is invested with lots of telling detail (not too much, though!).
Trinity himself is a good, solid detective character. I was put in mind of Ross Macdonald's Lew Archer, a somewhat lonely guy investigating the problems of families both wealthy and poor. I think some of his idle fantasies about women were less than interesting, and made me roll my eyes a few times, but then, that's what people really are like.
The prose quality is very good: Holliday generally sticks to a lean, hard-boiled style, but is not above swinging the bat a few times. The one thing I had to adjust to was the paragraph structure---the author favors a staccato, one-sentence-paragraph style for much of the book, which interrupts the flow of ideas and description. I think this can be very successful at getting across the segmented thought process of the POV character sometimes, particularly in scenes of heightened awareness or action, but other times I found myself wishing that related sentences had been bundled together in the customary fashion. This might just be my taste, as I found the same thing very distracting when reading the Underworld USA books by James Ellroy. Overall, though, the prose is quite good, showing care and diligence without appearing seeming precious or worked-over. Many of the chapters are _extremely_ short, so the book feels like it flies by, making it an ideal beach read if you have any summer vacation plans coming up.
Conclusion: if you want a breezy, funny detective tale with some great local detail, please check out Trinity Works Alone. Once I hack through my TBR pile I know I will be checking out the rest of the works in the Frank Trinity series.
October 22, 2020
A delight to read! As I raced to the finish to find out how it all tied together, I could smell the Tucson creosote in the air. This novel has an engaging cast of characters, and each mention of a familiar Tucson landmark brought a smile to my face. Looking forward to reading the next installment in the Frank Trinity series.
October 10, 2022
A strong start for the Frank Trinity, P.I. series!
March 6, 2022
Only two or three pages in, I knew I was going to like this book. Trinity Works Alone begins with titular private detective, Frank Trinity, hustling some poor schleb on the tennis courts. Trinity is hired to find the missing daughter of a man (the schled) who dropped out of school, and seemingly off the face of the Earth, save for cryptic phone calls to her father demanding money. Trevor Holliday writes Frank Trinity with a steady hand and a wry sense of humor. Maybe the best thing about Holliday's writing is his depictions of Tucson. Trinity stalks the streets of Tucson like Chandler's Marlowe in Hollywood or Ross MacDonald's Lew Archer in Santa Teresa. Holliday knows the denizens of this place, from the Native Americans to the party-first frat boys. If you are a fan of the detective genre, you will want to add Holliday and Frank Trinity to your shelf.
May 13, 2022
This is Trevor Holliday's first in the captivating series about Frank Trinity, a (slightly) hardboiled detective out of Tucson, Arizona. There are many things I like about Trevor's writing - his dry humor and eye for detail - the environment comes alive (I know Tucson and it is true to the writing.) The style is breezy but solid, crafted with short sentences, paragraphs, chapters - all helping to create that (slightly) hardboiled effect. I say "slightly" because Trevor doesn't take himself too seriously - there is a tongue in cheek subtlety woven throughout that is part of the humor. And yet, the book is a great mystery too!
February 24, 2022
I first came across Trevor Holliday on Instagram through Barnstork_press as I was drawn to the artwork of his book covers. They give off that cool 1970-80's vibe. In this book, Trinity Works Alone, Holliday has captured early 1980's Tucson perfectly through the eyes of Frank Trinity, a private investigator. I really enjoyed this book & read it quickly. Before I even finished it I went ahead & bought the additional 4 books in the Trinity series. I'm presently reading one of Holidays other books "Dim Lights Thick Smoke" & I like it as well. Grab yourself one of his books & enjoy!
September 27, 2022
The first of the Frank Trinity novels, but the third one I'd read, and it's interesting to see how the author develops. This is a really strong calling card, with a great sense of location, snappy dialogue and a narrative that weaves together nicely. All very impressive and assured stuff - but personally, I felt Holliday really hits his stride with Book 2. That's when everything falls into place for me, and where the series truly becomes its own thing.
So definitely read this, but then head straight out and pick up the next one too.
So definitely read this, but then head straight out and pick up the next one too.
April 13, 2022
Great mystery. I certainly didn’t predict the ending. It was a page turner and I couldn’t wait to finish.
September 11, 2025
In the 1980s, Frank Trinity cruises around Tucson looking for a rich man’s missing daughter. Meanwhile, a Native American bull rider searches for the man who killed his brother. Are the two cases related? Is the Pope Catholic?
“Trinity Works Alone” lured me in with the author’s terse, staccato prose. I love it when authors cut every word to the bone. Crime fiction works well when it is brisk and matter of fact. Too bad writer Trevor Holliday went overboard and stripped out all of the personality.
Frank is cool, dispassionate, and annoyingly hollow. A week after finishing the book, I struggle to find words to describe him. Stoic? Stern? There isn’t even enough there to call him a cliche. The most memorable thing he does is con a guy out of a hundred bucks while playing tennis. So, there’s that.
Oh! I remembered something: Every woman he meets wants to jump his bones. Don’t ask me why. The book never makes it clear. It certainly isn’t his personality. Maybe he looks like George Clooney.
Good detective fiction is as much about the detective as it is about the case and why they pursue it. Entire dissertations have been written about Philip Marlowe and Sam Spade. I’m struggling to write a paragraph about Frank Trinity.
I could ignore the question mark of a protagonist if the mystery was at least decent. Frank’s investigation is about as straightforward as it gets. Someone early on warns him that the girl was last seen with a no-good thug. When Frank finds the thug, he finds the girl. Presto, mystery solved.
Look, if you need something to read on the plane or to take your mind off how much it sucks to be at the beach, then this will occupy your attention for an afternoon. It’s a fine, brisk read. Just don’t expect it to stick with you afterward.
Also posted to my blog thing.
“Trinity Works Alone” lured me in with the author’s terse, staccato prose. I love it when authors cut every word to the bone. Crime fiction works well when it is brisk and matter of fact. Too bad writer Trevor Holliday went overboard and stripped out all of the personality.
Frank is cool, dispassionate, and annoyingly hollow. A week after finishing the book, I struggle to find words to describe him. Stoic? Stern? There isn’t even enough there to call him a cliche. The most memorable thing he does is con a guy out of a hundred bucks while playing tennis. So, there’s that.
Oh! I remembered something: Every woman he meets wants to jump his bones. Don’t ask me why. The book never makes it clear. It certainly isn’t his personality. Maybe he looks like George Clooney.
Good detective fiction is as much about the detective as it is about the case and why they pursue it. Entire dissertations have been written about Philip Marlowe and Sam Spade. I’m struggling to write a paragraph about Frank Trinity.
I could ignore the question mark of a protagonist if the mystery was at least decent. Frank’s investigation is about as straightforward as it gets. Someone early on warns him that the girl was last seen with a no-good thug. When Frank finds the thug, he finds the girl. Presto, mystery solved.
Look, if you need something to read on the plane or to take your mind off how much it sucks to be at the beach, then this will occupy your attention for an afternoon. It’s a fine, brisk read. Just don’t expect it to stick with you afterward.
Also posted to my blog thing.
March 2, 2023
Pretty good. I’ll read the series. Straight ahead, stripped down southwestern noir. A search for a missing girl leads to a mare’s nest of bad intentions and bad people - as it tends to do. There’s also a pitch perfect conversation with a stoner, street musician; “You should relax man…” Maybe it’s the e edition but there are a bunch of little copy editing errors.
March 22, 2025
good.
Good pulpy well written detective novel/ noiresque story. Will read more by this author. Fast paced as well. Cant go wrong.
Good pulpy well written detective novel/ noiresque story. Will read more by this author. Fast paced as well. Cant go wrong.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews