I heard about David Fulmer's latest book, The Blue Door, from a podcast interview at Behind the Black Mask. Clute and Edwards' in-depth interviews more often than not prompt me to read the works of the authors interviewed so pay them a visit if you are serious about your mystery reading.

The Blue Door is set in Philadelphia in the early 1960s, around 1962.Boxer Eddie Cero unfairly loses a match and is heading to a bar when he happens upon two men beating a third. He intervenes, flattens one of the thugs, and is continuing on his way when the victim, Sal (Salvatore) Giambroni insists on buying Eddie a drink which turns into many drinks. They end up at a bar called The Blue Door. Sal is a former Phili police officer and now a private detective. He likes what he sees in Eddie and talks him into coming by SG Confidential Investigations. He wants Eddie to work for him for day wages.

Eddie is reluctant, doesn't think that the work of a PI is for him, and reherses telling Sal that he can't work for him. When he walks through the office door Sal doesn't give him a chance to say anything; he gives him an assignment to watch someone, the keys to his car, and sends him out the door.

At this point, the book follows two parallel story lines. First there is Eddie learning the craft of being a PI. He has good instincts in spite of his reluctance to become "a snoop for hire." This delights Sal who is seeing a protegee in Sal. It doesn't take long for Sal to move Eddie from day wages to a weekly salary. Two cases are followed through to conclusion.

The second plot line is Eddie's personal investigation. He sees a black female singer at The Blue Door and realizes that she is Valerie Pope, formerly of a rising black group, the Excels. In '59 the leader, and Valerie's brother, Johnny Pope, disappeared without a trace after leaving the recording studio late one night. Eddie loves music and was a fan of the Excels; he decides to look into Johnny disappearance. Valerie, vehemently, doesn't want him prying into family business; Sal thinks it is a waste of time since it is an old case and there is no money in it. Reluctantly, Sal tells Eddie he can work the case on his old time. Pretty soon it becomes clear that there is something odd about the case.

How much did I enjoy this book? I checked it out of the library at 4:26PM, probably didn't start reading until 6PM, and read the last page shortly after 12:30am.

I like the way that Fulmer carefully builds his story, there is nothing rushed about it. I would say that it is very much character driven. Eddie is a more complex character than you might initially assume with him being a prize fighter. Music is an important part of his life and he has an extensive collection of 45 rpm records. It is his love of music that pulls him into the mystery at the heard of the story. Eddie is also very introspective and there is a poignant moment as Eddie walks around his old stomping grounds coming to terms with the actuality that he is giving up boxing. Fulmer makes Eddie a character you care about and want to see more of.

Fulmer also has a wonderful skill at description

...His room was a box at the end of the hall on the second floor that contained an iron bed frame with a mattress that sagged on one side and and was full of lumps on the other, a night table, a chest of drawers, and lone chair, all standard hotel issue. A grimy window looked out on a narrow side alley, where old cars sat rusting and dirty kids sometimes played. The radiator clanked with feeble heat in the winter, and in the summertime the place was an oven. His private joke was that he liked it because it reminded him of home.

I love the way that last sentence gives you an insight into Eddie.

Early in the book Eddie goes to the library to get background on Pope's disappearance.

...He told her what he was looking for, and she steered him to a seat at a table near a set of broad windows that looked out on the green of the parkway. As he waited, he glanced around at the bent, busy heads, feeling a tinge of regret he had never been a part of this world of book learning. I seemed like a safe place.

Again, that last sentence adds so much to the preceding description.

This is a terrific read and one of the best books that I have read in 2008.

Deadly Beloved is a story for fans of Mickey Spillane. Michael Tree - Ms Michael Tree - is a hardboiled female P.I. Her father, a cop, wanted a son and insisted on naming her Michael. Michael Friday also became a police officer but has been relegated to the records department. She married an ex-police detective,Michael Tree and, taking his last name, gives us the pun, Ms Tree = "mystery."

Michael Tree, the husband, left the police force to open a detective agency taking the then Michael Friday and two other police officers with him. On their wedding night Michael Tree, the husband, is murdered in the parking lot of their motel. Ms Tree takes over the detective agency and establishes herself as a hardboiled private investigator, always ready to apply force and not hesitant to use her automatic - a 9mm not .45 like Mike Hammer but nonetheless lethal.

The Tree Detective Agency is hired to look into the case of Marcy Addwater, who, without a doubt, shot and killed her husband and a prostitute in a sleazy motel room. While there is no doubt she did the murders, why and how she accomplished it are questionable. Even some of the police officers think something is fishy.

The case takes a decidledy odd turn when it emerges that the case and the murder of Michael Tree might be somehow related. Is there an "Event Planner" who orchestrates murders, arranging it so that they cannot be traced back to the persons who commissioned them?

As with the hardboiled genre in general, there is a high body count, crisp, ironic dialog and a fast paced story.

Max Allan Collins is well known for writing Dick Tracy for many years where he worked to bring Tracy back to his hardboiled roots. He was also involved in comic projects including Ms Tree. Deadly beloved is the first Ms. Tree novel. There is an afterword where Collins writes "About Ms Tree" describing how he took her from comics to a novel. Collins obviously loves the hardboiled genre and Deadly Beloved is a terrific addition. I hope he decides to pen further adventures of Ms. Tree.

I recommend that you listen to an interview of Max Allen Collins on the podcast, Behind the Black Mask: Mystery Writers Revealed. There is a lot of good information about Collins' writing, the evolution of Ms. Tree, and the hardboiled genre. While you are there, check out the other interviews. I regularly get reading suggestions from the author interviews that Clute and Edwards, the podcasters, conduct. 

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.