The Detective & the Chinese High-Fin

April 18, 2016
In Craven’s superior second John Darvelle mystery (after 2014’s The Detective and the Pipe Girl), LAPD homicide detective Mike Ott asks the PI for his help with a cold case. Over a year earlier, well-to-do Keaton Fuller was shot dead in the driveway of his Hollywood home. Even though everyone who knew Fuller despised him, all the suspects in his murder had solid alibis. Fuller’s parents are eager for the search for his killer to continue, but with a resource shortage at the LAPD, Ott’s ability to help is limited. Darvelle accepts the case and finds out quickly how repellent the victim was. When interviews with Fuller’s family, his former girlfriend, and a business partner he dumped lead nowhere, Darvelle decides to pursue a report that the dead man was involved in brokering sales of valuable tropical fish. Fans of Robert B. Parker’s Spenser will relate to Darvelle, with his nuanced view of humanity and a loving partner to keep him honest. Agent: Erica Spellman-Silverman, Trident Media Group.

April 15, 2016
A thinking man's detective takes on a cold case. John Darvelle is physically and mentally tough. He's also willing to make moral judgments, as when he covers up for a woman who stole a ring from her nasty employer just to teach her a lesson. His next case is more difficult. Homicide detective Mike Ott has recommended him to a wealthy family whose son's murder remains unsolved. Keaton Fuller walked out of his Hollywood home and was shot dead in his driveway. Keaton was a despicable person--even his parents loathed him--but the people who had the most obvious motives to kill him all have airtight alibis. Keaton was good-looking and could be charming, but he ruined his relationships with everyone in his life, from the mother he punched to the brother whose pet he shot. Keaton was also involved in several business deals that went sour, and his relationships with women included date rape and a long string of castoff girlfriends. Doggedly interviewing all the people who hated Keaton, Darvelle (The Detective and the Pipe Girl, 2014) unearths a single clue: Keaton's brief involvement in a high-end tropical fish business that remains a mystery. Posing as an interested buyer, Darvelle visits Prestige Fish and gets a very bad vibe from owner Lee Graves. He continues to look into the fish, aware that if he's not very clever, he may end up sleeping with them. An exciting, well-written detective noir whose final twist raises it far above the ordinary.

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May 1, 2016
The Chinese high-fin in this engaging PI novel is an exotic tropical fish the reader will meet in a dealer's shop. Everyone thinks of the fish as small and striped, the dealer says, but that's a short-lived facade. It's actually big and black, with a shark fin. Later it's a metaphor for a killer: easygoing on the surface, crazed with revenge underneath. Southern California PI John Darvelle is charged with solving the murder of a really evil man. Each suspect has an ironclad alibi for the morning Keaton Fulleryoung, rich, obnoxioustook a slug in the heart. The pleasure here is in joining Darvelle as he trolls between L.A. and La Jolla, interviewing anybody who knew the creep, breaking for ping-pong and beer, and staying with this intriguing mystery until he solves it. His bright-eyed way of greeting each new situation is refreshing, as are his occasional asides to the reader: You know what? See what I'm saying? Read the first 25 pages carefully. Like that fish, they set the pattern for what follows.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)