A food motif is what connects the books this week, because what I really love when I go out for dinner is the sight of a fixin’s bar, which means good eatin’. No shock, but I’ve covered all three authors before, today giving us a crime team, a cowboy and, to bring things to a boil, a seriocomic political read.
MISSIONARY STEW by Ross Thomas — This 1983 novel shows its age, especially since it’s all set around the elections of 1984. It focuses on two men, one of whom is political spin doctor Draper Haere, who is trying to get his current client, the governor-elect of California, a stronger toehold into the presidential race. It seems Haere might have stumbled onto an incident that could cause the current president a problem.
Enter investigative journalist Morgan Citron, who has hit hard times. As we meet him, he’s leaving an African prison after 13 months. Haere hires Citron to dig even deeper, no matter the problems it might dredge up. Those problems usually end up with dead bodies.
The story is extremely complex and filled with characters who seem to have escaped the world of Elmore Leonard. This book is one you’re either going to hate or buy into and enjoy the long line of whack jobs. There’s even a character named Hallmark, who is sent to take care of a situation when you want the job done by the very best. Or there is Citron’s new lady friend, Velvetta — yes, like the cheese product. We find out her family, after striking it rich, wanted to change it to Brie. Then add in your requisite Banana Republic army generals and you got yourself a fun bunch.
It’s more these secondary people who kept me going, but other readers will give up early on, since Thomas jumps around the two leads’ lives so much that sometimes you might want a scorecard to keep track. But I’m guessing that’s the whole point: Things are so engrossed and complex, he is poking fun at the whole idea of a political thriller. I mean, talk about convoluted plotting, but there is plenty of humor.
A word of warning: If anyone ever offers you a bowl of the title stew, refuse. Unless you think the diet of Idi Amin sounds tempting.
PASS THE GRAVY by A.A. Fair — A comfy blanket of a read is how one could describe the Cool & Lam series, from the mind of Perry Mason creator Erle Stanley Gardner, writing under his occasional pen name. They give the reader a warm glow that things will all work out in the end, and that you will have a pleasant reading experience all the while.
The bulk of this series is told through the eyes of Donald Lam, a former lawyer, now a detective, who is partners with a brash and business-first woman named Bertha Cool. This 1961 one has two cases at its center and, not to really give anything away really, but of course, they are connected.
We find Donald doing his white-knight routine after Bertha tosses out a would-be client, as she’s not one to take on charity cases. This young lady, Sandra Eden, is in desperate need for the agency to find her missing uncle, who is about to come into a large amount of money, due to a trust fund. The main reason for her worry is that her uncle goes on a bender and usually turns up once his money dries up, but it’s been a while, with no sign of him.
Then there is the second case that Bertha sees as easy money: finding a missing husband who disappeared on the way home from Reno. His curvaceous wife, Daphne Beckley, wants her spouse found, even though their marriage has pretty much run its course and both know it’s over.
How these cases intertwine is through the drunk uncle and missing hubby becoming traveling companions by chance, due to the fact the uncle usually hitchhikes his way home. Things take a bizarre turn once Lam starts digging into these cases, especially when a mysterious blonde who was also given a ride has vanished without a trace. And then, a dead body is found where the car broke down, but is it the uncle or the hubby?
I love these stories for the way Gardner weaves enough clues into the plot for readers to figure it out, which is what exactly happened early on for me. Still, it’s a fun read that does what it sets out to do: Entertain the reader and not get bogged down. I wish more writers would do that.
THE GUNSMITH #39: THE EL PASO SALT WAR by J.R. Roberts — Is there another current author who is as prolific as Robert J. Randisi? It seems he can crank out a book a week. Despite the pseudonym, the whole GUNSMITH series is his, but that is only one part of his output.
From 1985, this is an earlier adventure. To say these books are just trashy Westerns is a disservice. It should be a compliment, since you get what is advertised in each: plenty of sex and violence, pretty much right out of the gate. I mean, Clint Adams is barely in town before he is making time with one of the local ladies, and we still have more than 170 pages to go and plenty of other women to meet.
The plot is pretty basic for this type of Western: A group of businessmen have a hold on the salt beds, which is making them wealthy, but one of the crew is greedier than the rest. He wants to be sole controller, and the only way to get that is kill off his associates. Too bad he picked the week when Clint comes to town.
A man named Fountain, who is attacked right away, tries to hire Clint for protection. Fountain has a daughter who is more than willing to spend time with Clint while he is around. Slowly, we see the man who is calling the shots hires a gunslinger to take out not only his partners, but also Clint. From this point, it’s basically Clint using his smarts to figure it all out before that final bullet.
People don’t read THE GUNSMITH for depth. No, here are the important stats for the series’ fans: Fountain’s daughter, a saloon girl, the sister of one of the salt ring associates, and — for the big finish — a threesome between the first two.
The series never disappoints. Any of them can be read as fast as a speeding bullet, which just makes you want to grab another from the never-ending stack. My only problem is the cover art: There is no monk in the novel, and the Mexican in it is a full-on businessman, not some extra from TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE. —Bruce Grossman
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF ERLE STANLEY GARDNER:
• BATS FLY AT DUSK by Erle Stanley Gardner
• THE BIGGER THEY COME by Erle Stanley Gardner
• THE CASE OF THE HESITANT HOSTESS by Erle Stanley Gardner
• THE CASE OF THE WAYLAID WOLF by Erle Stanley Gardner
• THE CASEBOOK OF SIDNEY ZOOM by Erle Stanley Gardner
• CROWS CAN’T COUNT by Erle Stanley Gardner
• THE DANGER ZONE AND OTHER STORIES by Erle Stanley Gardner
• FISH OR CUT BAIT by Erle Stanley Gardner
• FOOLS DIE ON FRIDAY by Erle Stanley Gardner
• GOLD COMES IN BRICKS by Erle Stanley Gardner
• PERRY MASON SOLVES THE CASE OF THE DARING DIVORCEE by Erle Stanley Gardner
• PERRY MASON SOLVES THE CASE OF THE PHANTOM FORTUNE by Erle Stanley Gardner
• SOME SLIPS DON’T SHOW by Erle Stanley Gardner
• SOME WOMEN WON’T WAIT by Erle Stanley Gardner
• TRY ANYTHING ONCE by Erle Stanley Gardner
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF ROBERT J. RANDISI:
• DOUBLE THE BOUNTY by Robert J. Randisi
• GALLOWS by Robert J. Randisi
• THE LAWMAN by Robert J. Randisi
• LONE STAR LAW edited by Robert J. Randisi
• THE GUNSMITH #16: BUCKSKINS AND SIX-GUNS by Robert J. Randisi
• THE GUNSMITH #23: THE RIVERBOAT GANG by Robert J. Randisi
• THE GUNSMITH #44: THE SCARLET GUN by Robert J. Randisi
• THE GUNSMITH #85: WINNER TAKE ALL by J.R. Roberts
• THE GUNSMITH #128: THE CALIENTE GOLD ROBBERY by Robert J. Randisi
• THE PICASSO FLOP by Vince Van Patten and Robert J. Randisi
• PLEASURE ISLAND by Nick Carter
• SHELTER #2: HANGING MOON by Robert J. Randisi
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF ROSS THOMAS:
• THE BRASS GO-BETWEEN by Ross Thomas
• CHINAMAN’S CHANCE by Ross Thomas
• THE PROCANE CHRONICLE by Ross Thomas
Related posts:
- BULLETS, BROADS, BLACKMAIL & BOMBS >> Precious Metals
- BULLETS, BROADS, BLACKMAIL & BOMBS >> Variety Pack
- BULLETS, BROADS, BLACKMAIL & BOMBS >> Renoir, Monet & McGinnis
- BULLETS, BROADS, BLACKMAIL & BOMBS >> With Friends Like These
- BULLETS, BROADS, BLACKMAIL & BOMBS >> Freeze Frame
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I’ve really been enjoying reading Ross Thomas (just discovered him in the last six months or so, and just finished one of his novels last week), he’s someone who was entirely off my radar, and now I don’t understand how that could be. What I like most about him is that not only can he tell a story, but the man can straight up write. He puts words together with so much wit and verve that I find myself re-reading some of his sentences just because I know that it might very well be the single best sentence I’ve read all month.