Mystery

Brief beautiful counter-culture noir featuring poet/book scout/PI Clay Blackburn and set mostly in Berkeley. Who can resist a character who when checking out someone's bookshelves reflects: "I scanned the two small bookshelves. Jackie Susann and some movie bios. But also Terry Southern, Gore Vidal, Susan Sontag. No McSweeney's or Paul Auster. I felt relieved. The only poetry was by Bertolt Brecht. Not bad."

Excellent, well written, SoCal noir. Jimmy Boone tries very hard to do right, but his sense of justice brings him into situations he probably shouldn't be in. This is a great story of a broken hero battling to right wrongs. Very well written with nods to people like Beckett. Engaging