Get your noir fix with Crashed

Looking for some back to school reads? Take a look at my blog post Anxious Going Back to School.

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme. Read the rules and more teasers at The Purple Booker. Anyone can play along.

I am reading Crashed by Timothy Hallinan this week. Junior Bender is a burglar, not a private investigator, so maybe I can’t properly classify it as hard-boiled or noir. But the atmosphere, language, and descriptions are as colourful as any Sam Spade. The characters are fun and described well. This twisty little mystery is a great read so far, I will definitely read more of the series.

And then, just to make the moment more special, another dog, big enough to take the other three like aspirin, shouldered its way into the hall with a growl so low it rattled the crystals in the chandelier.

Timothy Hallinan, Crashed

Junior Bender, a burglar with a magic touch, is being blackmailed into taking on a new freelance job. One of LA’s biggest crime bosses is producing a porn movie that someone keeps sabotaging; Junior’s job is to figure out who’s responsible and keep the movie on track.

The trouble is, he’s not sure he can go through with the job, blackmail or no blackmail. The actress lined up to star in the film, Thistle Downing, is an ex-child star who now lives alone in a drug-induced stupor, destitute and uninsurable. This movie would be scandalous fodder for tabloids around the country. Junior knows what he should do — get Thistle out and find her some help — but doing the right thing will land him on the wrong side of some scary people.