Saratoga Longshot (Penguin Crime Fiction)

Rating:
Summary: First book in series
Review: Longshot is indeed the first book in the series. It came out in 1976. Swimmer is book # 2.

Rating:
Summary: Correction to "The Opening Act"
Review: The first book in Dobyn's Saratoga series is actually 'Saratoga Swimmer,' 1981, I believe.

Rating:
Summary: The Opening Act of the Saratoga Crime Series
Review: This is a classic crime story, simultaneously the first book in Stephen Dobyn's Saratoga crime series, introducing Charlie Bradshaw and the almost legendary Victor Plotz, who get to each other, when Charlie is trying to track down a missing teenager from his hometown who has left for the Big Apple. I don't want to tell more about the plot, because I think telling more would be cheating on those brave readers outta there who want their books the same way John Travolta liked his steak in Pulp Fiction - "bloody as hell, just don't cook it!" - which means, translated into book-language: "shut up, I want to find out what it is about for myself, don't you dare to tell me something about the plot!"

The book description by Amazon is more than sufficient and if I tell you that this is a mystery book about crime and one cool cop, this has to satisfy you. I mean, read the book, you'll see what it's about soon enough.

The book is packing, has niveau and good writing and if you liked other books by Stephen Dobyns, read'it. If you've never heard of Stephen Dobyns before, read it. But if you want an earlier version of "Boy in the Water" or "Church of Dead Girls" forget about it. ALthough all of his books are about crime the setting in Longshot is completely different to the two books mentioned above. The main character is a small town cop, maybe somehow eccentric that old fellow, who lives for wild west legends and uses stories about them to explain situations in his own life. But don't worry, this is no book about gunslingers of the ol' wild west, but about one modern gunslinger, an open-minded, caring guy, who is stubborn and sticks to his promises - a cop from Saratoga Springs.