Devil's Garden

Starred review from February 9, 2009
The 1921 rape/manslaughter trial of silent film star Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle provides the gritty backdrop for Atkins's outstanding crime novel, in which Dashiell Hammett, then a Pinkerton operative living in San Francisco, plays a significant role. A wild party Arbuckle throws at San Francisco's posh St. Francis Hotel results in tragedy after an actress, Virginia Rappe, is mysteriously injured and later dies. As the author explains in a “behind the story” introduction, the future creator of Sam Spade was actually assigned to help the defense on the Arbuckle case. With enviable ease, Atkins (Wicked City
) brings to life Hammett, Arbuckle, William Randolph Hearst and other real figures of the period. Those familiar with the historical case will be impressed by how well the book meshes fact and fiction. Genre fans who enjoy the grim realism of James Ellroy's post-WWII Los Angeles will find a lot to like in Atkins's Prohibition-era San Francisco.

March 1, 2009
Facing a manslaughter rap, big-time movie star Fatty Arbuckle gets the Pinkerton agent Dashiell Hammett working on his behalf.

In September 1921, you can argue endlessly about who's funnier, Chaplin or Arbuckle, whose face shines with ersatz innocence as he takes those earthshaking pratfalls. But there's nothing funny about Arbuckle's private life, which runs to nonstop booze, floozies and wild parties. The saturnalia at the St. Francis Hotel is merely typical until the girl in Suite 1219 turns up dead, causing the San Francisco authorities to pay particular attention. Arrest and indictment follow in short order. According to the prosecution, Virginia Rappe met her untimely end crushed under the importunate bulk of Roscoe Arbuckle. It's an allegation lurid enough to enchant the whole avid world of yellow journalism. Though the evidence against Arbuckle is far from overwhelming, the defense is jumpy. Enter ace Pinkerton operative Sam Hammett, who's not yet calling himself Dashiell. Coughing blood, obviously suffering from TB, he remains every skinny inch a detective's detective, slogging toward some kind of truth through the moral and ethical despond known as the Arbuckle Case.

Atkins (Wicked City, 2008, etc.) writes so well that some readers—but not all—will forget to ask if that's enough to validate time spent with irredeemable lowlifes in a modern-day Sodom.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

January 15, 2009
In September 1921, silent film star Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle was tried for the murder of budding actress Virginia Rappe after a wild, boozy bash at a San Francisco hotel. The case was particularly notorious because William Randolph Hearst unleashed the full force of his media empire on it, allegedly tainting evidence and claiming Arbuckle crushed Rappe under his immense weight. A key private investigator for Arbuckle was none other than a young Pinkerton agent named Sam Dashiell Hammett, who turned up much more than a botched police investigation and an unethical autopsy. On the margin of the case was a web of Hollywood intrigue and corruption worthy of its own scandal, fueled by the looming demise of the silent film and Hearst's desire to preserve mistress Marian Davies's acting career. Atkins's ("Wicked City") latest noir historical thriller showcases one of the most infamous Hollywood murder trials with a compelling style and a deft blend of fact and fiction. Sure to appeal to Hollywood buffs and mystery readers alike, this is recommended for popular fiction collections.[See Prepub Mystery, "LJ" 12/08.]Susan Clifford Braun, Aerospace Corp., El Segundo, CA

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2009
Atkins follows White Shadow (2006) and Wicked City (2008), both based on real-life murders in the 1950s, with another historical thriller, but this time he turns the clock back to 1920s San Francisco and perhaps the citys most famous scandal: the death of minor actress Virgina Rappe and the subsequent murder trial of Hollywood star Fatty Arbuckle. One of the Pinkerton detectives hired by Arbuckles lawyer to investigate the case was a tubercular World War I vet and would-be writer namedDashiell Hammett. Atkins makes Hammett the hero of his Arbuckle story, and the strategy works superbly, allowing him to incorporate speculation on Arbuckles role in Rappes death into the ever-fascinating story of Hammetts career as a real-life detective. As in his earlier historical novels, Atkins again proves a meticulous researcher, but here he does an even better job of melding that research into a lively, atmospheric narrative. Both Hammett and Arbuckle emerge as multidimensional, appealing characters, and Atkins version of what happened atFattys wildparty in the St. Francis Hotel has the ring of truth.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)