Janet Roger's Blog - Posts Tagged "london"
Ranger's 5-star Goodreads review of SHAMUS DUST: HARD WINTER, COLD WAR, COOL MURDER by Janet Roger
Outstanding debut novel mixing detective fiction and historical fiction with a liberal dose of noir atmospherics. Shamus Dust is a surprisingly good debut detective novel, one of the best mystery debuts I have read.
It's no accident that this fine noir detective mystery echoes Raymond Chandler's Marlowe novels. The author, Janet Roger, is a fan of Chandler's Marlowe and wanted her debut to pay homage to Chandler's creation. The title, Shamus Dust, adds to the tribute with a double meaning--Shamus meaning detective and Dust referring to both the classic, pulpy Chandler crime fiction era and the archaeology angle that contributes an intriguing plot twist to what would otherwise be a cut and dry blackmail/murder mystery.
The plot (at least at the beginning) is evocative of The Big Sleep with its sordid extortion conspiracy involving back alley porn, pimps, and blackmail. The elements of the plot are too complicated to summarize and I would only end up spoiling it for the reader. So suffice to say, our intrepid protagonist, an American ex-pat PI named Newman living in post-war London, is pulled into a murder mystery that eventually takes him from the sleazy side of London's back alley street denizens to the inner chambers of high finance and municipal government of the City of London.
Janet Roger is a British writer so her decision to set the story in 1947 London seems like a no-brainer. But its a clever way to re-cast Marlowe as Newman in a very different environment than Chandler's Southern California.
There is irony here as Chandler was a British ex-pat who moved to the US to work in the oil industry before becoming a writer of detective novels set in Southern California. And this isn't just London as most Americans know it. This is 1947 London -- more specifically, the City of London, that one-square mile financial district within the original Roman Walls for which the entire world once revolved -- still scarred and defiled by German bombs, trying to get back on its feet, while re-discovering the original Roman City hiding under the rubble.
Roger manages to use descriptions of the city, its ruins, and its architectural/archaeological secrets to give the novel a very strong historical novel feel. But don't be put off by that. The dialogue channels the Chandler/Marlowe style of wise-guy, smart-aleck prose that made the Marlowe books fun to read.
The only downside in this is that Roger writes like an English-person. Her English prose is sturdier than American English and occasionally a Chandler-esque turn of the phrase collides with a British colloquialism that just doesn't sit right to an American ear. But only occasionally.
This is not a light read. But it moves along at a nice clip with well-paced chapters. Janet Roger knows how to write descriptive prose and doesn't shy away from showing off her chops.
All in all, this is a worthy read, highly recommended for those looking for noir atmospherics, witty dialogue, several mysteries wrapped around a bold conspiracy, and a feel for what London must have been like in the difficult years after WWII.
Despite the realism and sleazy aspects of the plot, this novel is free of erotica and foul language. And so well written, it's unnecessary anyway.
Highly Recommended.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
It's no accident that this fine noir detective mystery echoes Raymond Chandler's Marlowe novels. The author, Janet Roger, is a fan of Chandler's Marlowe and wanted her debut to pay homage to Chandler's creation. The title, Shamus Dust, adds to the tribute with a double meaning--Shamus meaning detective and Dust referring to both the classic, pulpy Chandler crime fiction era and the archaeology angle that contributes an intriguing plot twist to what would otherwise be a cut and dry blackmail/murder mystery.
The plot (at least at the beginning) is evocative of The Big Sleep with its sordid extortion conspiracy involving back alley porn, pimps, and blackmail. The elements of the plot are too complicated to summarize and I would only end up spoiling it for the reader. So suffice to say, our intrepid protagonist, an American ex-pat PI named Newman living in post-war London, is pulled into a murder mystery that eventually takes him from the sleazy side of London's back alley street denizens to the inner chambers of high finance and municipal government of the City of London.
Janet Roger is a British writer so her decision to set the story in 1947 London seems like a no-brainer. But its a clever way to re-cast Marlowe as Newman in a very different environment than Chandler's Southern California.
There is irony here as Chandler was a British ex-pat who moved to the US to work in the oil industry before becoming a writer of detective novels set in Southern California. And this isn't just London as most Americans know it. This is 1947 London -- more specifically, the City of London, that one-square mile financial district within the original Roman Walls for which the entire world once revolved -- still scarred and defiled by German bombs, trying to get back on its feet, while re-discovering the original Roman City hiding under the rubble.
Roger manages to use descriptions of the city, its ruins, and its architectural/archaeological secrets to give the novel a very strong historical novel feel. But don't be put off by that. The dialogue channels the Chandler/Marlowe style of wise-guy, smart-aleck prose that made the Marlowe books fun to read.
The only downside in this is that Roger writes like an English-person. Her English prose is sturdier than American English and occasionally a Chandler-esque turn of the phrase collides with a British colloquialism that just doesn't sit right to an American ear. But only occasionally.
This is not a light read. But it moves along at a nice clip with well-paced chapters. Janet Roger knows how to write descriptive prose and doesn't shy away from showing off her chops.
All in all, this is a worthy read, highly recommended for those looking for noir atmospherics, witty dialogue, several mysteries wrapped around a bold conspiracy, and a feel for what London must have been like in the difficult years after WWII.
Despite the realism and sleazy aspects of the plot, this novel is free of erotica and foul language. And so well written, it's unnecessary anyway.
Highly Recommended.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
