Ordinary Murder

Rating:
Summary: An ink stained wretch and the New York real estate game
Review: On the advice of a friend I recently read Don Flynn's "Ordinary Murder". Edward "Fitz" Fitzgerald is a much put upon "ink stained wretch" who scribbles away for a newspaper that resembles the New York Daily News. He avoids a tedious assignment by his editor, Ironhead Matthews, to investigate the murder of a friend's son. Fitz loves the friend, the owner of a neighborhood bar, but barely knew or tolerated the son. Throw in a beautiful woman, whose green eyes are like "falling into the Irish Sea", a charming bookie, Skates Stern, wrongfully accused of the murder, a few yuppies, the usual collection of crooked businessmen and attorneys, and you have an entertaining mystery.

Fitz takes solace in the words of Marcus Aurelius, which puts a bit of a classical spin on the story. He also puffs away on Tiparillo cigars, in the newsroom, which, along with references to the World Trade Center, give the book almost a bittersweet sense of nostalgia.

Perfect for a coast-to-coast plane ride. I started in California and closed the back cover somewhere over America's heartland.