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The Silver Setup
Private eye Mike Garrett is hired to find a missing tycoon in sleepy Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1948, and he quickly discovers a web of drugs, revenge, and murder beneath the town's quiet surface
Paperback
First published August 1, 1988
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 29, 2011
It was an easy to read mystery.
April 23, 2022
An online review from Mystery File informed me of the existence of this 1988 paperback from the short-lived Pageant Books. By chance, I came across a well-worn copy at the Book Inn in Fairhope, Alabama. I bought the book for a song.
The Silver Setup is the first of two novels featuring Los Angeles private eye Mike Garrett. The second novel is The Tainted Jade (from 1989), which I have not read.
In the novel, Los Angeles is completely irrelevant. In 1948, Garrett travels to Philadelphia on a case and ends up involved in small-town intrigue in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. A wealthy woman (Lenore Stevens) hires Garrett to find her missing husband, Charles. As the book’s back cover reveals, Charles is no longer among the living.
Subsequently, Garrett uncovers much corruption beneath the surface in Lancaster. It’s a big difficult to peg the genre of The Silver Setup. In some regards, it’s a hardboiled mystery. Many of the online reviews note that Richard Blaine’s prose owes something to Raymond Chandler. At the same time, PI Garrett is a major smart aleck, which recalls more-contemporary sleuths. And the plot is that of a classic “puzzle” mystery - I think that readers will find it difficult to figure out unless they pay very close attention.
For all of that, The Silver Setup is good, but not great. I didn’t like the smart-aleck aspects of Garrett’s character (because - in my humble opinion - this short of snark has been done so often that it’s become cliche). I also thought that while the puzzle aspects were fairly well done, they made the reader work awfully hard for little return.
So, if I ever came across the second mystery in the series, I’d buy it. But I won’t go out of my way to find a copy.
The Silver Setup is the first of two novels featuring Los Angeles private eye Mike Garrett. The second novel is The Tainted Jade (from 1989), which I have not read.
In the novel, Los Angeles is completely irrelevant. In 1948, Garrett travels to Philadelphia on a case and ends up involved in small-town intrigue in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. A wealthy woman (Lenore Stevens) hires Garrett to find her missing husband, Charles. As the book’s back cover reveals, Charles is no longer among the living.
Subsequently, Garrett uncovers much corruption beneath the surface in Lancaster. It’s a big difficult to peg the genre of The Silver Setup. In some regards, it’s a hardboiled mystery. Many of the online reviews note that Richard Blaine’s prose owes something to Raymond Chandler. At the same time, PI Garrett is a major smart aleck, which recalls more-contemporary sleuths. And the plot is that of a classic “puzzle” mystery - I think that readers will find it difficult to figure out unless they pay very close attention.
For all of that, The Silver Setup is good, but not great. I didn’t like the smart-aleck aspects of Garrett’s character (because - in my humble opinion - this short of snark has been done so often that it’s become cliche). I also thought that while the puzzle aspects were fairly well done, they made the reader work awfully hard for little return.
So, if I ever came across the second mystery in the series, I’d buy it. But I won’t go out of my way to find a copy.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews