When he was eighteen, Miranda Sugarman was John Blake's first love and first lover. Ten years later, John is a Private investigator and Miranda Sugarman is a dead stripper. When Blake last saw Miranda she going off to college in New Mexico to become an eye doctor. What happened in the ten years to take her from college girl to a stripper in a tenth rate gentlemen's club, the Sin Factory? Against the advice of his boss - "You won't like what you find" - Leo Hauser, Blake is determined to find out what happened to Miranda. Leo is right and the story concludes with a turning point that puts a blackness on John's soul and changes his life.

Little Girl Lost is a hardboiled detective story and enjoyable read. The characters are nicely developed. At twenty-eight John blake still looks like the preppy college kid and literature major he was before Leo drew him into the life of a licensed private investigator. Early in the story, John meets Rachel, a stripper who knew Miranda. She becomes a major character and through her we learn about life in the strip clubs. This provides the kid of detail that helps flesh out a story (sorry I had to say that). I also enjoyed the manner in which Blake approached his research into Miranda's past. He starts with Google. Also, Real literature majors will note that the poet William Blake wrote a poem with the title A Little Girl Lost which is reminiscent of John and Miranda as high school lovers.

Richard Aleas is the pen name of Charles Ardai, co-founder of Hard Case Crime. This is his first novel though he has published short stories. Ardai was interviewed by Clute and Edwards on a Behind the Black Mask podcast in which he discusses Little Girl Lost as well as Hard case Crime. It is an excellent interview and can be listened to without spoiling the story. The interview brings up an interesting aspect of "P.I. justice." this is the situation where the P.I. encounters a crime so horrendous that justice can only be served outside the law. But the P.I. must agonize over the choice otherwise the P.I. might be considered nothing but a sadist (as Raymond Chandler described Mickey Spillane).

The discussion of Hard Case Crime press was equally interesting to me since I find myself reading (and owning) many of their titles.

If you like a crime story hard enough to be used as a blunt instrument by itself then Money Shot may be for you. Be aware, the narrator is an ex-porn star and her descriptions of the industry are explicit but not in a way that will make you want to head to that room behind the curtain at your local video store.She is unapologic and matter of fact about what she did and others still do.

Angel Dare left the front of camera at the height of her career and opened a high-class adult modeling agency, Daring Angels, representing women still in the business. One day an old friend, Sam, calls her. New talent he had lined up for a shoot got cold feet at the last minute and he needs an actress. The male star wants her. will she come out of retirement for one little job. As a favor for Sam, she agrees but upon arriving at the set finds herself tied up, threatened, and tortured. Some very bad men think she has briefcase belonging to them.

From there, the comfortable life Angel made for herself starts to fall apart.She escapes the attempt on her life and with the help of Malloy, an ex-cop who had been in her employ, Angel tries to figure out what is going on.Ultimately, all she wants is revenge on those who destroyed her life.

Money Shot is a terrific hardboiled crime story and I liked everything about it. Angel is a strong female character who succeeded in a tough industry. She isn't willing to see what she built up, torn down without a fight. There is also a bit of sacrifice and redemption at the end.The supporting characters like Malloy and her friend Didi are also well drawn. The action is well written and, like most heroes in hardboiled stories, Angel get beaten up but never down. The backstory on the porn industry is fascinating and lurid but essential to the story.

Money Shot is published by Hard Case Crime. If you are not familiar with this publisher and you like hard boiled crime stories then you need to check these folks out. They publish both older, vintage stories and well as new novels by current authors. Their books are easy to pick out on the shelf because of the distinctive logo with an automatic pistol, a crown, and Hard Case Crime superimposed over a yellow background. I've started buying their book regularly. Their website is here.

Songs of Innocence picks up three years after the events in Little Girl Lost . Blake is no longer a P.I. but at Columbia University working in the writing program office. There he meets Dorothy Louise Burke (Dorrie) with whom he becomes a friend then lover. They both have secrets: with John it's the events that occurred in Little Girl Lost; with Dorrie it's that she is a sex trade worker. They share something else. They both keep suicide as an option if life becomes too much to bear. they have agreed though, that if one of them decides to commit suicide that they will tell the other first. When Dorris is found dead, an apparent suicide, John can't accept it. As in Little Girl Lost, he is determined to find out who killed Dorrie, regardless of the cost to himself.

Songs of Innocence is painful to read. Aleas is excellent at writing a character whose life is disintegrating but who can't act otherwise. His description of the massage sex trade and some of the women in it is graphic but not in the least titillating. I found it to be an engrossing, well plotted story with believable, interesting characters cought in their own versions of hell. I don't recommend reading it on a dark, stormy night when you are feeling depressed but I do recommend it if yo favor the hardboiled school of writing.

Oh, and if you've forgotten your survey of English literature course, Songs of Innocence and Experence is a book of poems by William Blake.

Richard Aleas is the pen name of Charles Ardai, co-founder of Hard Case Crime. This is his second novel. You can hear an excellent interview of Charles on Behind the Black Mask  where he talks about his first book, Little Girl Lost, as well as Hard Case Crime press.