Chinaman's Chance

Arthur Case Wu #1

by Ross Thomas

"It was while jogging along the beach just east of the Paradise Cove pier that Artie Wu tripped over a dead pelican, fell, and met the man with six greyhounds."
- from Chinaman's Chance

Thus begins what may be the most popular of Ross Thomas's unique stories. The combination of Wu, pretender to the Imperial throne of China, and Quincy Durant, who has his own colorful past, makes for a heady experience. After starting with the deceased pelican on a California beach, the plot mixes in the disappearance of a large sum of money that should have been buried in Vietnam, and the search for the missing member of a trio of singing sisters from the Ozarks. Only Thomas could have stirred this concoction with the style, humor, and suspense that captures the reader at the very beginning and doesn't let go until the last word.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Thriller, Crime, Espionage, Suspense, Novels

Hardcover

First published March 15, 1978

About the author

Ross Thomas was an American writer of crime fiction. He is best known for his witty thrillers that expose the mechanisms of professional politics. He also wrote several novels under the pseudonym Oliver Bleeck about professional go-between Philip St. Ives.

Thomas served in the Philippines during World War II. He worked as a public relations specialist, reporter, union spokesman, and political strategist in the USA, Bonn (Germany), and Nigeria before becoming a writer.

His debut novel, The Cold War Swap, was written in only six weeks and won a 1967 Edgar Award for Best First Novel. Briarpatch earned the 1985 Edgar for Best Novel. In 2002 he was honored with the inaugural Gumshoe Lifetime Achievement Award, one of only two authors to earn the award after their death (the other was 87th Precinct author Evan Hunter in 2006).

He died of lung cancer two months before his 70th birthday.

Reviews

[Bill Kerwin]

Thirty pages in, and I was delighted. A plot not just complex but deep: layer beneath layer of stratagem and objectives, and--underneath that—a myriad of agendas, fueled by wounds and desire.

It starts with an apparent coincidence: when Artie Wu, pretender to the Chinese throne, trips over a dead pelican while jogging, he is helped, limping, to his friend Quincy Durant's place, assisted by wealthy entrepreneur Randall Piers, who had been walking his six greyhounds on the beach. The three men have what appears to be a casual conversation: about commodity futures, the fall of Saigon, millions of dollars in abandoned American currency, etc. Soon we learn the dead bird was placed on the beach: part of a plot, with Piers as a target. But it turns out that Piers has his own plans too, and they involve Wu and Durant.

An intricate, coherent plot realized in efficient, witty prose—that is enough to satisfy me all by itself. But Thomas also does something new here. Thomas unites the uneasy morality of LA detective fiction with the merry stratagems of the novel of international intrigue, and makes them work together harmoniously amid the chaos and disillusionment of the post-Vietnam era.

But he could not do it without the brilliance and cynicism of his two heroes, the part-time spies and full-time rogues Artie Wu and Quincy Durant. These two do not merely wade into the ocean of pollution and corruption, they take to it like ducks, as if they were the vanguard of an aquatic species, a new evolutionary experiment.

[Karl]

"It was while jogging along the beach just east of the Paradise Cove pier that Artie Wu tripped over a dead pelican, fell, and met the man with six greyhounds."
- from Chinaman's Chance

The main character (Arthur WU) appears in:


Chinaman's Chance (1978)
Out on the Rim (1987)
Voodoo, Ltd. (1992)

It is defiantly time I re-read this book.

[John Culuris]

Lately I’ve been going back and picking up writers I’d dropped during a period when I only had enough free time to read my very favorites. This is Thomas’ first outing with Artie Wu and Quincy Durant, who seem to be his favorite reoccurring characters (The fans’ favorites are McCorkle and Padillo, although if most had known he’d also written the Phillip St. Ives series as Oliver Bleek, that may be a contender). Always readable, Thomas sometimes lost his way when winding things down to the conclusion. At his best, he sets a range of characters in motion and the audience is along for an entertaining ride. With the exception of maybe one too many twists at the end, Chinaman’s Chance is one of his best rides.

[Glenn]

Are you with me, Dr. Wu?

[Craig Pittman]

I'm trying to read all of Ross Thomas' novels this year. This one was a fun if loopy read, starting off with a dead pelican and ending with an empty beach house that still contains a hot pot of coffee. In between is a classic Thomas mix of oddball characters, snarky political commentary and a plot so twisted you won't be able to predict which way it will turn next.

Our heroes, if you can call them that, are Artie Wu -- the last pretender to the throne of China -- and his lifelong buddy Quincy Durant. The pair met up in an orphanage and have been wandering scam artists and smugglers ever since. Along the way Artie picked up a Scottish wife and four kids, but Durant has a more tragic backstory that ends up playing a role in the plot.

Artie's jogging on the beach at Malibu near Durant's house when he trips over a dead pelican, twists his ankle and gets help from a passing millionaire who's walking his six greyhounds. Before long the millionaire has hired the pair to find his sister-in-law, once part of a famous singing trio. She disappeared after the violent death of her lover, and her sister, a famous actress, is desperate to get her back.

As often happens in Thomas' books, nothing is what it first looks like and part of the fun of reading his novels is watching him peel back the layers of the plot in between wild action scenes. Also, I have to mention Thomas' obvious delight in giving his characters offbeat names. The classic one here is Maurice "Otherguy" Overby, who got his nickname because he's never responsible for anything that goes wrong. It's always the other guy who did it.

Before the end, Thomas has tied in the CIA, the Mafia, the fall of Saigon, a corrupt beach town with a crooked police chief, a nosy neighbor with a chrome-colored beehive and an obsession with Mary Tyler Moore, and a platoon of greedy neighborhood children. He's also managed to mock every form of government on earth. No wonder this is his most popular novel!

I understand he gave Artie and Quincy a couple more adventures, so I'll be looking for those two books next on my Ross Thomas review.

[Gibson]

Normale normalità

Ciò che mi piace trovare nelle storie di piccole realtà criminali - seppur qui si sfiori anche un discorso più ampio, di Organizzazione - è la capacità dell'autore di adattarsi alla quotidianità dei personaggi, di restituire un quadro d'insieme quanto più vero possibile.
Che poi, a prescindere dal genere, è qualcosa che apprezzo sempre.

Thomas ci riesce in pieno.
Diversifica i personaggi con pochissimi tratti e li lascia vivere attraverso le azioni ma soprattutto i dialoghi. Evita spettacolarizzazioni o giochi di specchi per distrarre il lettore, lascia solo ciò che serve, e lo fa con una tranquillità invidiabile e un tocco di ironia.

Artie e Quincy, ad esempio, la coppia di protagonisti del romanzo, rappresentano al meglio lo stile ironico e scanzonato dell'autore: la loro intelligenza è camuffata da un'indolenza che rasenta il ridicolo, ed è questo contrasto a rendere accattivante la lettura, a incollare l'attenzione dietro una trama semplice ma non banale e valorizzata, per quanto mi riguarda, proprio dal tocco di Thomas, che rende normale il *normale*, un apparente controsenso troppo spesso sottovalutato.

Romanzo che ho goduto pienamente e con gusto.

[David Wrubel]

Ross Thomas was at his best writing comic mysteries with serious undertones, and his best ones featured Artie Wu and Quincy Durant and an unusual cast of characters. I believe they appeared in one or two others in addition to "Chinaman's Chance", which remains my favorite. Thomas died in 1995; the NY Times once called him the greatest storyteller in America, and that is still true 14 years after his death, yet most of his books are out of print. They are well worth finding.

Another Thomas book I recall being just terrific is called "The Seersucker Whipsaw" about two American politicos hired to win an election in a newly, er, "democratic" African country.

[Nooilforpacifists]

This book is out of print, because current culture got it canceled.

Which means you should buy it used, immediately.

[Charles]

I’m always looking for hardboiled, noir reads from or set in the past. This book came highly recommended to me by bots in response to my Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett reading fetish. My own research of more reputable sources found Chinaman's Chance is considered to be Ross Thomas' best. I liked it. The story was complex. The narration was entertaining. The characterization was rich. If I had an issue the early 70's world-building was not recognizable as forty years ago. The story felt more like a 60's story. Also, the writing reminded me more of Elmore Leonard than a Chandler story.

The original copyright on this book is 1978. The story is set in 1974. Thomas was writing a noir novel, a genre formed in the 30’s and continuously ported to subsequent decades. I prefer pre-WWII noir stories. This post Viet Nam story turned-out to be a refreshing change. As far as I can tell the physical aspects of the world building for the mid-1970’s are correct. Folks were still smoking cigarettes in restaurants back then? Its also interesting to see how folks managed in the times immediately before mobile phones became prevalent. However the novel has more of a 60’s feel to it expressed through the characters. I suspect its because the story's characters (and the author) were already in their 30s-50's. I tend to think of the 70's as being dominated by late-boomer generation issues.

Prose is good. Both dialogue, spatial description are well done and appropriately rich. There is a definite Chandler-esque use of metaphors and similes. Although, Thomas’ narration is a bit more arch than I’m used to. Still, I came to enjoy Thomas’ turn of a phrase. This story contains several humorous exchanges and descriptions. For example,

Durant took a Pall Mall out of his shirt pocket, looked at it regretfully, and lit it.
“You trying to quit?” Piers said.
“Not really,” Durant said. “I just go through a bit of self-loathing every time I light one.”

I was surprised there were no expletives used or implied in the dialog. Considering a lot of scenes contained conversations with low-lifes, this made the story unrealistic to me. However, there were what would now be considered ethnic slurs appearing in casual conversation.

Action scenes are well done. Although they are feel a tad abbreviated, in comparison to the more staid scenes. Thomas is more of an atmosphere writer like Chandler that way. In addition, I found no continuity errors.

The story contains sex, drugs and violence. The sex is not graphic. It was not all heteronormative. Thomas is not as successful with his sex-related descriptive prose as he is with his other narrations. In addition, was sex really that casual in 1974? I thought the Summer of Love was long over by then. Drug usage was minimal. It was exclusively references to marijuana usage. I had thought drug, particularly cocaine usage in the early 70's in LA was more prevalent. I note that alcohol usage among the characters was at the high-levels of noir stories set in earlier decades. Violence was moderately graphic, but not disturbing. (I may have a high tolerance.) It includes: edged weapons, physical and firearms usage. There is remarkably little blood in the descriptions. I thought the edged weapon attack was particularly good. Body count is modest.

This story contains characters that are too eccentric to be the The Usual Suspects. Although, these characters can be seen to be riffs on an extended list of noir arch-types. Characters include: diplomats, spies, politicians, rich men, movie stars, activists, bent cops, hookers, pimps, hangers-on, and con artists.

There are the nominal protagonists Arthur Wu and his partner Quincy Durant. They are gentleman freebooters. Wu is the eponymous “Chinaman”, which comes from a double entendre in the dialog. I preferred the Durant character to Wu. I don't understand why the series is named after Wu. Wu was too eccentric. However, Wu's pimento stuffed olive melted cheese sandwich was delicious. (I made it for myself.) There is Otherguy Overby and Eddie McBride. Overby’s a mountebank acquaintance of Wu and Durant and McBride is his ex-Marine apprentice. Old Asian Hands feature a lot in this story. Femme fatales include Lace and Silk Armitage. They’re sisters, members of a defunct famous “country trio” that reminds me of the Dixie Chicks . Lace is now a movie star. Her sister a kept woman. There is also Randall Piers, billionaire extraordinaire . He's Lace Armitage's husband. The bad guys include Vincent Imperlino, Solly Gesini and Reginald Simms . Imperlino is of the “Gentleman Gangster” type, while Gesini is a New York Mafioso transplant to Los Angeles. Simms was Imperlino’s roommate at Bowdoin College . His ‘graduate work’ was ‘black-ops’ for the CIA in the last days of Viet Nam, which somehow made him unpatriotically rich. Simms and Imperlino are business partners with complementary skill sets. The story is also littered with members of the LA demimonde. All are well rendered with enough variation to be interesting.

It’s a gangland, CIA, local government corruption in SoCal story. This is also one of the earliest The Company trope stories can recall reading. Plot is a partial interleaving of three sub-plots. There's a woman with evidence who wants to stay lost. A sting. And a local government cover-up in progress. Thomas's Pelican Bay location looks and feels an awful lot like Chandler's Bay City where Philp Marlowe spent so much time. The overall plot reminded me of The Sting (1973) . That is, a revenge story by grifters. Coincidentally that movie appeared at about the time this book was being written. There is a peculiar reveal, at the end. In 1938 and even 1978 it might have been OK. However at this writing its a little too pat. In addition, there was the obligatory exposition at the end to ensure the readers understood the who all was setup, why and how.

This is a very mature story writing-wise in a at the time fringe genre. The snappy badinage and the author's use of metaphors and similes are well developed. His descriptions and characterizations are likewise well done. Where I hang up on this story is that the built-in 1970’s Zeitgeist doesn’t feel authentic. However, this is certainly better than any modernly written historical fiction set in that decade. This is a good noir read.

I’m looking forward to reading the next in the Wu/Durant stories: Out on the Rim.

[Will]

"Wu looked past Durant to the ocean, still gray from the overcast, although the horizon, for some reason, was clearly defined - so clearly, in fact, that Catalina was plainly visible, which it seldom was, even on clear days. 'I've had a couple of ideas,' Wu continued, 'which, when you hear them, might help you to understand why they used to call us Oriental folks wily.'

'Shifty, too.'

'Well, this is one of the shiftiest ideas I've ever had, but it might make us a little money.'

'How much is a little?'

Wu blew one of his smoke rings. Durant watched it rise toward the ceiling and said, 'That much, huh?'

'How can you tell?'

'Whenever you come up with something really rotten, you blow a smoke ring first. It's sort of like italics.'

Wu blew another smoke ring and said, 'A half a million. Each. Cash.'

Durant leaned back in the suede chair and looked at the ceiling. 'Well, now. A slight risk involved, of course.'

'We might wind up in jail. Or dead.'

'As I said, a slight risk.'

Wu blew his third smoke ring. 'Your ears always get pointy.'

Durant touched his right ear. 'When?'

'Whenever I mention a bit of money, they start growing points.' He sighed. 'Greed, I suppose.'

'I didn't think it showed. Tell me how we're going to get rich, Artie.' [...]

It took Artie Wu nearly an hour and forty-five minutes to outline his ideas. It took that long because Durant immediately began poking some rather large holes in them, which together they plugged up. Then Aggie Wu and the children came back and they decided to have the picnic early out on the deck. After the picnic, the children were put to bed for a nap on the twin beds in the spare bedroom. Aggie Wu decided to take a nap in Durant's room.

When the children and their mother were finally asleep, Durant and Wu went over the scheme again, probing for weak spots, for holes, and for gaping inconsistencies. They found quite a few and patched them over, mostly with improvisation.

Finally, Durant locked his hands behind his neck and gazed up at the ceiling again. 'By God, it's rotten, isn't it?'

Wu smiled. 'I thought you'd like it.'

'You know what the odds against it are?'

Wu shrugged. 'We've got a Chinaman's chance.'

'That bad, huh?'

Wu stuck a fresh cigar into his mouth and around it grinned a big, wide, white, merry grin. 'Nah,' he said. 'That good.'"

[DeAnna Knippling]

An unlikely pair of opportunists--raised together as orphans--take on a missing persons case that may be more important to them than a mere payoff.

Fun! I enjoyed this thoroughly and dug in my heels so I didn't read too much at any one sitting...by the end of the first chapter, I already didn't want the book to end. The end gets to be slightly eye-rolling, not because of the plotting or anything, but because there's a nod to something that was way overdone, even at the time. Really??? Okay...

This reads like a cross between The Sting and a Tom Robbins novel. Lovely writing, very human characters. Recommend.

[David Schlosser]

Ross Thomas is being unjustifiably forgotten in the annals of crime fiction. He has a particular bent on looking at crime -- in most books, from the perspective of using public office to commit moral and ethical crimes that insulate the perpetrator from criminal prosecution and spread the impact of those crimes across such a wide range of victims that it becomes very difficult for any one person to justify spending the time and energy to stop it. His good guys are barely good and often bad, and his bad guys are often publicly identifiable as good guys. This makes for interesting and sometimes subtle action, and Thomas can write the living daylights out of a story. His work may not often rise to the heights of lyrical and dazzling prose, but it's always entertaining and frequently rewarding intellectually. Everyone should read more Ross Thomas.

[Ed]

Read this one some time ago, but Ross Thomas is a writer I want to read more of.

[Sean O]

I really like Ross Thomas political crime thrillers. They’re always well plotted with lots of wry humor and clever dialog.

My only beef with him is his inability to write believable women characters. Most of them simply exist to have sex with the main character.

So I was pretty excited to read “Chinaman’s Chance” which very early had a well-developed female character who is married to a supporting character and figured into the plot.

I was absolutely ready to give it five stars… and then the character turns into a literal nymphomaniac who throws herself at the main character.

So disappointed, but still, it’s one of his better stories and (despite the nymphomaniac) an attempt to write realistic female characters.

This could easily be turned into a short TV series. Lots of good character beats and plot twists.

[Thom]

Started reading this and heard the voice of RC Bray in my head, then remembered that he had narrated a previous Ross Thomas book I read - The Singapore Wink.

Complex and layered plot, humor, and an interesting cast of characters. A lot of fun to read, and apparently out of print (but available on archive.org!). First of three with the same protagonists, writing scattered over a few decades. The author is unfortunately no longer with us, but many books remain.

Did I like it? Do I recommend it? Yes to both.

[Scott]

My third Ross Thomas book. I wasn't as in on it as Briarpatch and Misisonary Stew, but the last quarter of this one really hooked me late. There's a few too many long, expository plot-moving conversations that cover way too much ground, but all the characters are great, with clear individual voices. There's always going to be some unfortunate anachronistic choices for a noirish book written in the late 70's, moreso in something named "Chinaman's Chance," but I still enjoyed the ride.

[Todd]

wonderful entry into a trilogy of all the main characters.

[WortGestalt]

In den etwas härteren Kriminalromanen ist nicht selten die Hauptfigur der raue, einsame Wolf. Ich lese das zum Beispiel richtig gern. So ein hartgesottener Typ, raue Schale, rauer Kern, lakonisch in Wort und Tat und ein richtiger "lonesome cowboy", verlassen von der Welt, mit großer Gelassenheit unterwegs. Coole Sache. Besser kann es dann eigentlich nur noch werden, wenn eine Geschichte plötzlich mit zwei von diesen Typen aufwartet, wie in „Umweg zur Hölle“. Da gibt es nämlich Artie Wu und Quincy Durant und ja, das, was die beiden haben, würde heutzutage als echte Bromance durchgehen, eine Männerfreundschaft dicker als Blut und solider als so mancher Stahlträger. Und ohne großes Tamtam.

Es geht an die Westküste der USA, Malibu, Kalifornien Mitte der 1970er Jahre. Und es beginnt mit einem toten Pelikan. Der Aufhänger ist so schön, man hätte den ganzen Roman danach benennen können. Da joggt also Arthur Case Wu, ein an Körpergröße und Körperumfang sehr stattlicher Chinese jeden Morgen am Strand von Malibu, in einem blauen Trainingsanzug. Und stolpert doch tatsächlich an diesem einen Tag im Juni über einen toten Pelikan. Während Artie fällt und sich nur denkt „Scheiße“, sieht ein Spaziergänger ihn fallen und denkt sich „Da fällt der dicke Chinese“.

Aufmerksam wie der Spaziergänger ist, der jeden Morgen am Strand von Malibu mit seinen sechs Windhunden Gassi geht und übrigens Randall Piers heißt, eilt er dem gestürzten Artie Wu zu Hilfe und geleitet ihn und seinen verstauchten Knöchel in das nahegelegene Strandhaus von Arties Partner Quincy Durant, ein langer, magerer Typ, braungebrannt, aber kein Sunnyboy. Und dann kann die Show auch schon beginnen. Es entspinnt sich ein perfekter Gauner- und Ganoven-Thriller/Krimi mit vielen krummen Geschäften, dubiosen Gestalten, der Mafia und der CIA, Politikern, Folk-Sängerinnen, viel Korruption und dem ein oder anderen Auftragsmord. Großes Kino.

Herausragend waren für mich in "Umweg zur Hölle" die Komplexität des Plots und die Figurenzeichnung, beides ist so voller Feinheiten, Verstrickungen und Verbindungen erzählt, dass es ein wahres Fest ist. Ich konnte die Handlung nie weiter als bis zum nächsten Wort durchschauen. Es sind viele kleine Rädchen, die das Getriebe dieser Geschichte am Laufen halten und jedes einzelne scheint mit der Präzision eines Schweizer Uhrmachers gefertigt zu sein. Man darf sich ruhig jeden einzelnen Namen der zahlreichen Figuren merken, die im Laufe der Handlung auftauchen, jeder könnte später noch die eine entscheidende Rolle spielen.

Auch sprachlich ist Ross Thomas Roman ein schieres Vergnügen, die Dialoge sind lakonisch und pointiert, der Erzähltext passt dafür gerne auch mal kleine Details ab, sodass die Figuren mit kurzen und sorgfältig ausgewählten Anekdoten bestückt werden, die nicht selten ein Schmunzeln provozieren. Und alles, was in diesem Roman vor sich geht, geschieht mit einer lässig-entspannten Attitüde, keiner dreht durch, na ja, kaum einer, doch alle haben ihre feste Rolle und erfüllen diese erhobenen Hauptes. Nicht zuletzt, weil sie sich oftmals für Drahtzieher halten, obwohl sie nur Marionetten sind.

In dieser Geschichte, in der es um viel Geld und Macht, aber auch um persönliche Motive geht, wird unendlich viel getrickst. Dieses Konstrukt ist dem Autor so gut gelungen, dass sich der Leser nie sicher sein kann, wer hier eigentlich mit offenen Karten spielt.

Fazit: Es ist diese Mischung aus lässigem Humor und raffinierter Intelligenz, die den ersten Fall von Artie Wu und Quincy Durant auszeichnet. Der komplexe Plot und die phänomenale Figurenzeichnung machen „Umweg zur Hölle“ zu einem Ganoven-Thriller mit einem ausgebufften Pokerface.

Bewertung: 4,56 Punkte = 5 Sterne
Stil: 5/5 | Idee: 5/5 | Umsetzung: 4/5 | Figuren: 5/5 | Plot-Entwicklung: 5/5
Tempo: 4/5 | Tiefe: 4/5 | Komplexität: 5/5 | Lesespaß: 4/5 | = 4,56 Punkte

© http://wortgestalt-buchblog.blogspot.de

[Thomas]

Lace Armitage is an Ozark folk singer turned actress. Her sister and fellow former group member Silk is an activist who was carrying on a not so secret affair with a local Congressman. That ended abruptly when the Congressman's wife shot him, then herself in an apparent murder-suicide - but there are those who feel the case is less "open and shut" than it would appear. Since then, Silk has been in hiding. One day, Lace's billionaire husband makes a (seemingly) chance encounter with Artie Wu and Quincy Durant, a pair of, uh, "entrepreneurs" with a fairly colorful past. He decides they're perfect for the job of locating Silk. Their search meanders through a web of corrupt politicians, down and out bums with buried treasure maps, mafiosi, ex-CIA, and con artists of various levels.

This a good example of what I guess could be loosely defined as a 70's conspiracy/caper novel. Think of this as almost a more competently handled version of what Thomas Pynchon (and later Paul Thomas Anderson) tried and mostly failed to achieve with Inherent Vice: A sprawling, semi-comical, vaguely paranoid account of the underbelly of 70's Southern California. Some of Thomas' sketches of the various lowlifes and oddballs populating this story are expert; Thomas employs a third person omniscient sort of narration that lets us get in the head of, say, a neighborhood busybody or a low-level loan shark's enforcer. Sometimes he gets a little too cute with his characters, and the "Scooby Doo" set of revelations at the very end felt forced. Overall a satisfying read.

[David Corbett]

I feel like an idiot for not picking up Ross Thomas sooner, but this (and two other of his novels I've read in the past year, Briarpatch and The Fools in Town Are On Our Side) have solidified my opinion that no one wrote a better, more satisfying crime novel. I once asked Otto Penzler why RT wasn't more widely revered, and he said, "He never wrote the same book twice," meaning readers didn't know what to expect of him, and thus he never gained the kind of fame awarded to Leonard and MacDonald and McBain and others. That's a shame. Because this book in particular is just incredibly wonderful and moving and fun.

[Joseph D. Walch]

Great prose and layered crime plot that comes together very enjoyably in the end. All you have to do is read the hook in the first sentence and you too will be instantly mesmerized:

"The Pretender to the Emperor's Throne was a fat thirty-seven-year-old Chinaman named Artie Wu who always jogged along Malibu Beach right after dawn even in summer, when dawn came round as early as 4:42. It was while jogging along the beach just east of the Paradise Cove pier that he tripped over a dead pelican, fell, and meet the man with six greyhounds. It was the sixteenth of June, a Thursday.

[Ginger]

A pretty solid 70s caper novel from the "men's fiction" shelf of that era. Not exactly a mystery but with more turns and twists, and lots of politics and crime and sexy ladies. If you've read a lot of 70s novels of this style and enjoyed them, you'll probably like this one a lot, but I can't recommend it for someone who isn't already into that sort of book precisely because of the 70s vibe ("Chinaman", for crying out loud).

[Mike Harper]

I have a daughter in law who accuses me of reading for self-improvement. Giving this book five stars ought to prove that I read for enjoyment, instead. Because this book has damn little in it to please an intellectual, but plenty of plot, character, action and just plain good writing. You don't have to Google this one to figure out why it's considered "great literature," because it isn't. Just great fun.
Best of the genre, and the best of Ross Thomas' many good novels.

[Lady Jayme, Baroness of the Lost Moon of Poosh]

I picked this up because Gillian Flynn recommended Ross Thomas' book "The Fools In Town Are on Our Side," but Half Price Books had this one instead. I enjoy a good crime caper, but perhaps this one just didn't age well? It was published in 1978. The title is jarring in and of itself, but the worst part for me were the badly written female characters who were almost all prostitutes or nyphomaniacs. A book by a man for men, I suppose.

[Chris Peters]

Clever, well-paced crime novel with an excellent 1970's vibe. Several cornerstone events and trends of the 60's (e.g. Vietnam War, CIA abuse of power, organized crime, folk music)feature prominently. The heros are clever and likable, while the villains are plausible and a good challenge for the protagonists.

[Liz]

The very beginning of the Ross B. Thomas adventure - grabbed me from the first line and kept me until the end. Thomas was one of the best writers ever - espionage, mystery, buddy story, quirky and absolutely marvelous storylines. It's difficult to say which of his books was the best, but this was the first and I loved them all.

[Shelley Diamond]

Superb storytelling without a doubt. Reminded of why I loved Dashell Hammet. I have read 4 of Ross Thomas' books now and am having a hard time finding more since they are from many years ago. I don't know why he wasn't more well known then.

[Tracella]

Just a great book. Like Elmore Leonard only with a bit of political analysis. Thomas' writing is superb; he brings you right into a scene and doesn't let go. Fast paced, twists and turns, great characters - I think I'm in love with Quincy Durant...unless I'm in love with Artie Wu.

[James Thane]

Published in 1978, this is the first entry in another excellent series from the prolific Ross Thomas. It features Artie Wu, the pretender to the throne of the Emperor of China, and his partner, Quincy Durant. One morning, while jogging on Malibu Beach near the town of Paradise Cove, the portly Wu trips over a dead pelican and severely sprains his ankle. Fortunately, his neighbor from down the beach, Randal Piers, is out walking his greyhounds and witnesses the accident.

Piers helps Wu home, up the stairs, and into his rented house. Wu introduces Piers to Quincy Durant who pours Piers an excellent cup of coffee. Piers admires the home's furnishings and is very impressed by the fact that Wu and Durant have a Reuters stock ticker clattering away in their living room. Durant tapes up Wu's ankle; the three men talk investments and size each other up. Then Piers walks his dogs back home, thinking that he might have use for a couple of guys like Wu and Durant. Meanwhile, of course, Wu and Durant are thinking that they just might be able to use a guy like Randall Piers.

The setup alone is worth the price of the book, which quickly spins off into a plot that could only be conceived by someone as talented as Ross Thomas. It involves a murdered congressman, a missing folk singer, a completely corrupted town, and any number of old scores that need to be settled. And oh by the way, there's also the matter of two million dollars that may or may not be buried on the grounds of the old U.S. Embassy in Saigon.

There's no point even trying to follow all of the twists and turns here; they keep coming from every direction, leading to a great and surprising climax. But that's of little concern. Watching Wu and Durant navigate their way through all of this business is great fun and there are a number of well-imagined supporting characters, including a guy named Otherguy Overby. Ross Thomas was a national treasure and pulling any of his books of the shelf for a reread is always guaranteed to be a delight.

[William]

There is a lot to like here, and for the most part it's a fun read. It really zips along. I also like the retro information in older books. I have not thought about the John Birch Society or Common Cause in years.

The aspect I most enjoyed was the conversations between the characters. Thomas writes with a wry wit, and the characters seem to speak authentically -- that is, they way this character or that one would actually talk. Lots of the characters are sort of endearing, even the bad guys, and there are countless moments of social satire which I enjoyed.

The biggest downside for me is this is an incredibly complicated plot, and even after I finished the book (and I had even taken notes), I am not sure I understood what had happened. So the ending, for me anyway, was a bit of a letdown. And boy are there a lot of characters.

Nevertheless, this is an effective and engaging caper story. Somehow it reminds me of the work of Donald Westlake, which is a compliment.