Seeing as December is Brett Halliday/Mike Shayne month, I
picked up Tickets for Death, the fourth book in the Shayne
series. It's an okay read, brisk and entertaining, but it's
also one of those books that you forget as soon as you've
finished it. When you think of the superb PI novels written
around the same time as this (e.g. Chandler's The Big Sleep,
Farewell, My Lovely and The High Window) it pales in
comparison.
Amongst other books I've been reading are a couple by Dan
Marlowe. I found One Endless Hour (2nd in the Earl Drake
series) and The Raven is a Blood Red Bird in a used book
store. One Endless Hour, a robbery and revenge story, is just
superb. Fans of Richard Stark take note; this one's as good
as the Parker series. The Raven is a more pedestrian novel.
It's an adventure story set mostly in an Albanian forest.
Despite some Cold War silliness marring the plot somewhat,
it's still pretty enjoyable. I'll be looking out for more
Marlowes.
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