Fast Shuffle

May 11, 2015
Harry Dickinson, the hero of this choppy, underdeveloped novel from Black (The Extinction Event), goes through life behaving as if he were a 1940s gumshoe. He is also a latter-day Don Quixote, who sees the good and the mystery in everything and everyone, even though he’s actually a present-day car salesman in Springdale, Mass. His girl Friday, Linda Chapin, is hopelessly in love with him, and his best friend, detective Brian Rossiter, overlooks Harry’s less-than-firm grip on reality. Meanwhile, his sister, Carol, and her husband, Phil Lagrange, would love to see him institutionalized so they can control Harry’s finances and the house they all share. When Harry finds bank documents left at a shoe-shine stand and insists they indicate that foul play has befallen a woman he has never met, things start to go Phil’s way. Harry has some charm, but he tends to ramble on in bewildering fashion, while dialogue between minor characters reads more like screenplay notes than anything that moves the plot along. Agent: Mel Berger, William Morris Endeavor.

May 15, 2015
This odd little novel claims to be set in the present, but you don't have to believe it if you don't want to. The hero drives a Packard, wears a slouch hat and a wide tie with a Windsor knot, and calls his assistant Friday. There's whiskey in a drawer, too. Yes, Harry Dickinson is a PI. Or maybe not. People close to Harry keep telling him that the crime he's investigating didn't really happen. He's suffering from partial complex seizure disorder. Doesn't know who he is. Of course, Harry and the readerand Fridayknow he's onto something. Now we've entered the world of Mary Chase's Harvey and Peter Shaffer's Equus, suggesting that mental illness really can be a great deal of fun, allowing its victims to have the time of their lives. Fortunately, it's not required that the reader believe what is really a spurious premise to enjoy Harry, his sleuthing, and the author's knack for uproariously funny scenes. A curiously endearing comic mystery best served, Mark Twain used to say, with a few ton of salt. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)