The Dead Are Discrete

Rating:
Summary: The Dead Are Discrete (Discreet)
Review: Whatever it's called--The Dead Are Discrete, or The Dead Are Discreet--this is wonderful crime-writing in the hard-boiled vein.

I have rarely taken to a shamus doing the first-person narration as quickly as I too to Arthur Lyon's creation, Jacob Asch--Capricorn, Jewish, gusty, and determined to get to the bottom of a seedy double-murder in L.A. The cops have got a suspect in custody for the slaughter of socialite occult-dabbler Sheila Warren, and her lover, shady film-producer Randy Folsom. The obvious, and thus incarcerated, suspect: the husband. It falls to Asch to try and get him off the hook.

This is not a mystery featuring clues as a strength. I have encountered hard-boiled detective novels that thrive on strong clues, despite showcasing private-eyes who rely on hunches and strongarm tactics to get suspects to cough up info where clues are scarce. And I tend to prefer whodunits that incoporate clues and red herrings, be they hard-boiled or not. But here, our detective simply follows the twisted trail involving Tarot Cards and arcane ritual, a whiff of blackmail, celebrity scandal, homemade films of unseemly sexual content, and the secrets of a wealthy but dysfunctional family. Asch's favoured techniques of skulking to spy and eavesdrop, and where necessary, interrogating who's next in the chain of odd or violent personages extending outwards from the corpses, make for a captivating tale. Every interview or confrontation is powerful and adds to the story. Finally, Asch has assembled the links and confronts the killer; he doesn't need clues, he has simply seen and heard enough to know the truth.

Highlights of the book: the creepy phone-call Asch gets, in which the actual murders--featuring rampant sadism--are played back on tape; Asch's discovery of another corpse, late in the game; the moment when our normally crusty shamus experiences real fear in the face of death (I can't remember the last time a tough-guy private-eye--especially one doing the first-person narration--so openly admitted to being so scared...and it works! Asch seems more real than ever).

Again, the plot is strong and complex, but is not reliant on clue-finding. Fact-finding, rather--by a terrific detective confronting other memorable characters immersed in all varieties of shadowy wickedness. If you're a fan of the hard-boiled school, and you haven't met Jacob Asch, meet Jacob Asch.