The Long-Legged Fly

August 3, 1992
Poet and short story writer Sallis creates a lyrical, unconventional suspense novel that reads like variations on a blues riff. In four sections, set in 1964, 1970, 1984 and 1990, black New Orleans detective Lew Griffin moves from his feisty mid-20s to successful middle age as a writer. He carries with him the requisite burdens of the hardboiled PI--memories of his days as an Army MP, a son and an ex-wife, excessive reliance on alcohol and tobacco--and he also quotes, poetry, literature and philosophy. Although some characters appear throughout, each section of the novel is virtually self-sufficient, with Griffin trying to find a series of missing persons. He wins some and loses some: he finds a black female activist trying to pass as white; he fails to save a teenage runaway from drugs and porn films. The richest (and longest) section traces how Griffin escapes loneliness and comes to understand himself through his relationship with the British nurse he meets at a detox center; he realizes he has filled himself with bourbon and the blues for too long. In the end, he recognizes the improvisational nature of his life, ``moving closer and closer to the truth'' in the conclusion to this haunting debut novel.

Originally published in 2000, this mystery introduces Sallis's private investigator, Lew Griffin. The book feels more like a short story collection than a novel as the focus is not a single mystery but many, and the various cases take place over three decades. Instead, the common thread is Griffin himself. Although he frequently finds missing persons, Griffin also struggles to find himself. Narrator G. Valmont Thomas expertly captures Griffin's hard-boiled intensity. In addition, he draws the listener into the sultry and somber atmosphere of the French Quarter of New Orleans. The combination of Thomas's voice and Sallis's words brings the listener into a dark world. R.F. (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine