Review Summaries

• Readers respond to the classic private-eye atmosphere and the protagonist's wounded humanity. It is often appreciated less for flashy puzzle-solving than for character history and the mood of the city.

Reviews

• Solid mystery novel

  This is a solid, readable mystery novel. The book features an amateur sleuth named John Ray Horn, a former cowboy movie star who served a stretch in prison. The story is set in 1940s Hollywood which adds lots of atmosphere and movie lore to the plot although I found Horn to be a little bland, lacking the usual snappy repartee and macho toughness of most modern detectives. On the other hand, Horn's friend and employer, Joseph Mad Crow, is an interesting, complex character. Ironically, he played Horn's faithful Indian sidekick in the movies. The plot involves the murder of one of Horn's former leading ladies and the hunt for her killer takes Horn and Mad Crow back to a another murder that took place at a wild party of silent movie stars back in the 1920s. The minor characters and Hollywood people are well developed and fun and, despite the fact that the original murder was a bit far fetched, I would recommend this book to anyone who likes murder mysteries peopled with interesting characters.

• Murder in 1940s Hollywood

  There's so much going on in this book it's not easy to review. Boiling it down: Former movie cowboy John Ray Horn spots a former co-star in a run-down bar. Rose Galen is a mess. John Ray himself is a recovering mess. He's dragging guilt from his less than heroic service in Italy during World War II. He just spent two years in prison for beating up a studio boss's son and is barred from all studios because of it. He ekes out a living as a collector for a casino owned by his old Indian sidekick, Joseph Mad Crow. John Ray pursues Rose partly out of sympathy and partly out of curiosity. Rose finally decides he means her no harm and agrees to tell him what started her downhill slide. Before they can talk she is murdered. When the cops don't seem to care who killed Rose, John Ray starts his own investigation, aided by Mad Crow and Cassie, Mad Crow's rebellious niece. Cassie is half-Indian, half-white and therefore neither. Chafing under Mad Crow's watchful eye, she quits her job at the casino, gets a job driving a cab, moves into Rose's old apartment and starts nosing around. The three of them make a lot of noise in what is hardly a covert operation. The killer strikes again. John Ray methodically tracks Rose's life, convinced that her murder goes back to a wild party held 20 years earlier in the mansion of a Shakespearean actor. Except for Rose and a starlet who died that night, the other partygoers are still alive, carefully guarding their secrets. As John Ray tracks Rose's life, the killer tracks John Ray's progress. The denouement is a shocker and fits neatly into Wright's portrayal of Hollywood when corruption outweighed the glitz. The final scene is a small slice of perfection.

• A great second book.

  Wright has created a wonderful, atmospheric series with an interesting protagonist. Horn definitely has a past for which he is still paying. He is also very human, feeling guilt for his own past, knowing he is not the hero cowboy, and often leaping to the wrong conclusion. But he also has that sense of right that keeps driving him forward. The books are well plotted and the supporting characters are as interesting as John. Wright puts the reader in post WII Los Angeles when the studio system was still in existence, everyone smoked and men wore hats. I have very much enjoyed both books in this series and look forward to reading the next.

• Edward Wright

  I really enjoy the John Ray books and the newest from Mr Wright is "Damnation Falls" . I didn't expect to like it, but it is good read also. I sure hope there are more Horn books, but a good mystery like "Falls", is welcome, too. I know it's a lot of work, but get busy writing!

• good read

  enjoyableatmosphere

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