Red Sky Lament

John Ray Horn #3

by Edward Wright

   (Winner of the Ellis Peters Historical Crime Award)   Los Angeles, late 1940 As brush fires begin to eat at the dry grass in the hills rimming the San Fernando Valley, a more ominous threat is taking shape. All over Hollywood, the U.S. government is ordering people to appear before the House Un-American Activities Committee as part of the crusade to uncover Communist influence in the movies.   John Ray Horn has little use for politics, but he knows a few things about outsiders. And when his ex-lover Maggie O'Dare asks him to come to the aid of an old friend of hers who has been targeted by the committee, he can't refuse. Owen Bruder, a brilliantly talented but notoriously difficult screenwriter, is accused of having belonged to the Communist Party -- a charge he strongly denies.    If Horn can discover Bruder's secret accuser, they might have a chance to clear his name. But no one is willing to talk. People are scared -- perhaps more frightened than they were in the Depression, or even the war. Hollywood has become a place run by fear and suspicion, where a whisper is all it takes to smear an innocent man.   As Horn's search leads him to powerful figures in Hollywood, the media, and his own government, his investigation takes a sudden and deadly turn. He is forced to ask if those in authority are capable of murder in order to attain their political goals. And he finds that more people will die before all the secrets are laid bare.
   Now there's no mistaking the smell of fire in the air. It is just over the mountains, still unseen, but it's coming this way... 

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Mystery

288 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2006

About the author

Ed Wright grew up in Arkansas, where his father sold hardware and his mother raised three children and taught arts and crafts. He has degrees from Vanderbilt University (honors, English literature) and Northwestern University (master’s, journalism). He was an officer in the U.S. Navy aboard destroyers for three years. His first major career was journalism, and he worked as an editor at the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times.
At the Times, he specialized for several years in Middle East affairs and later was one of the senior editors on the foreign desk, helping supervise the work of three dozen foreign correspondents around the world and plan coverage of events ranging from the fall of the Soviet Union to the first Persian Gulf War. He later wrote the Times’ Travel Advisory column.
Ed's second career, fiction writing, led to the John Ray Horn mysteries, set in Los Angeles during the 1940s. The series has won four awards, including the Shamus Award and Britain’s Ellis Peters Historical Crime Award. He departed from the series with his next book, “Damnation Falls,” a contemporary mystery set in small-town Tennessee, which won the Barry Award. His most recent, the thriller "From Blood," was named one of the best mysteries of 2010 by the Financial Times of London.
Ed and his wife, Cathy, a psychotherapist, live in the Los Angeles area with Magic, an irrepressible female Belgian shepherd mix. At least once a year the three of them head off to the lakes and trails of the eastern Sierra Nevada.


Photo by Jennifer Leshnick

Reviews

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Horn is a former actor now doing a bit of this and a bit of that in California. He's asked to look into the case of a man accused of being a member of the Communist Party who is then subsequently murdered. Set at a time when the US was obsessed with 'Reds under the bed', this is like an old-school noir although written in the 21st century. I wasn't sure if I'd enjoy this after finding out it's the third in a series but it didn't matter as I was drawn in by the writing and the mystery.

[jim luce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed it. Took me back to HUAC Committee days, old Hollywood, and a decent “who killed them and why” plot ——with Woody Guthrie as a bonus!

[LJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

RED SKY LAMENT (Talented Amateur-Los Angeles-1940s) - G+
Wright, Edward - 3rd in series
Orion, 2006- Hardcover
*** John Ray Horn is a former cowboy star, an ex-con and has no interest in politics. There are wildfires in the hills and the House on Un-American Activities is impacting the lives of those around him. Maggie, O'Dare, John's friend and former lover, asks for his help to uncover the person behind accusations that her father, talented screenwriter Owen Bruder, is a Communist. John's hesitation at becoming involved ends when Owen is murdered.
*** Wright has chillingly evokes this period of history. His mix of fictional and real characters, convey the fear, distrust and bigotry of the people involved. Wright creates interesting characters and relationships, but the mystery almost gets lost in the history. It's there, and there is even some decent suspense, but I felt myself getting through the story rather than unreservedly enjoying it. This may not be my favorite book of Wright's, but even still, it won't be my last.

[Scilla · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book takes place in the Hollywood area in the late 1940's when many in the movie industry were being called before the House Un-American Activities for communist activities. John Ray Horn, a former B-movie cowboy who has been imprisoned for beating up a man, takes on the case of Owen Bruder, a surly screen writer who has been accused of being a communist. He has been called in by Owen's daughter, Maggie O'Dare (a former lover and stunt woman on horseback) to find out who has accused him. Owen is bashed in the head and dumped into the swimming pool right after John Ray's first interview with him, so it's also a murder investigation. John Ray is aided by Maggie, and his former sidekick, Mad Crow. Meanwhile, one of those with whom John Ray wishes to talk is also bashed in the head and another is kidnapped. John Ray gets into some uncomfortable scrapes himself, and folks are slow to talk with him.

[Timothy Hallinan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The third and last (so far) of Edward Wright's John Ray Horn books, set in Los Angeles at the end of the 40s/beginning of the 50s and featuring a detective who was once the hero of Grade D Western movie serials and, after a spell in prison, is now a morally conflicted skip tracer. This one deals with the climate of fear caused by the Hollywpod investigations of the House Unamerican Activities Committee. Wright operates in the 90th percentile on everything: plot, characters, setting, dialogue, you name it. One of my very favorite writers.

[Jason Reeser · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick, comfortable read. This reads like one of the serials that John Ray Horn (the main character) would have starred in during his film career. I enjoyed it. It had moments that raised it out of the serial/B movie genre, and all of it was handled really well. Good fun.

[Maddy · Rating 3 out of 5]

RATING: 3.25

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good noir mystery, such a pity that Edward Wright has only written three books in this series.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://www.literaryfeline.com/2006/10...

[Regine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lowering.