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A review by brettt
Darkness, Sing Me a Song by David Housewright
2.0
Although detective fiction writer David Housewright is far better known for his Rushmore McKenzie novels, he began with a more traditional private investigator named Holland Taylor in 1995. Taylor appeared in three novels, finishing with 1999's Dearly Departed, before Housewright switched to McKenzie. He returned to Holland Taylor's Minneapolis to check in with the former police officer just this year, in Darkness, Sing Me a Song.
Housewright doesn't move Taylor ahead the full 19 years since his last outing but does let some time pass. Taylor's relationship with lawyer Cynthia Grey has collapsed, but he's entered a partnership with former rival investigator "Freddie" Fredericks. The pair have been hired by attorney David Helin to find evidence that will clear Eleanor Barrington of killing her son Joel's girlfriend, Emily Denys. The problem is that most of the evidence they can find suggests Eleanor probably did it and against it they have only Eleanor's word she didn't. Since Eleanor is an exceptionally unpleasant woman with an unhealthy relationship to her son, the weight seems to be pretty heavily on one side.
As Taylor digs more and more into the everybody-loved-her Emily, he finds she lacks much history at all. His attempts to see who she really was lead him to a small town torn by new, environmentally invasive industry that seems at first to have nothing to do with Joel or Emily, even though the Barringtons own land in the area. But some corporate weasels, a paranoid militia group and a suspiciously similar murder draw his attention, and make the entire matter significantly more dangerous than it was when it started.
Taylor is quick-witted and Housewright makes him and a number of his castmates quite funny, with the Taylor-Freddie repartee standing out especially. The narrative wanders a little too much and keeps Taylor on site at the scene of the earlier murder longer than it really ought to. Even though the trigger-puller seems pretty obvious just about halfway through, Housewright keeps trying to throw in more spins to keep readers interested. That tendency affected the earlier trilogy as well. Like an over-reaching gymnast whose stretch for one more twist keeps her from sticking the landing, Housewright could never resist the extra swerve even though it caused an unbalanced story. Likeable characters made those three books work (or didn't; one of the reasons Practice to Deceive fails so completely is that Taylor is such a horse's ass in it).
Holland Taylor is a character who's fun to spend time with but who can become a trial when his creator doesn't make that likeability a strength or keep his eye on the ball in telling a story. A fifth Taylor novel is due in January, and the odd numbers have so far served him better than even ones, so we shall see.
Original available here.
Housewright doesn't move Taylor ahead the full 19 years since his last outing but does let some time pass. Taylor's relationship with lawyer Cynthia Grey has collapsed, but he's entered a partnership with former rival investigator "Freddie" Fredericks. The pair have been hired by attorney David Helin to find evidence that will clear Eleanor Barrington of killing her son Joel's girlfriend, Emily Denys. The problem is that most of the evidence they can find suggests Eleanor probably did it and against it they have only Eleanor's word she didn't. Since Eleanor is an exceptionally unpleasant woman with an unhealthy relationship to her son, the weight seems to be pretty heavily on one side.
As Taylor digs more and more into the everybody-loved-her Emily, he finds she lacks much history at all. His attempts to see who she really was lead him to a small town torn by new, environmentally invasive industry that seems at first to have nothing to do with Joel or Emily, even though the Barringtons own land in the area. But some corporate weasels, a paranoid militia group and a suspiciously similar murder draw his attention, and make the entire matter significantly more dangerous than it was when it started.
Taylor is quick-witted and Housewright makes him and a number of his castmates quite funny, with the Taylor-Freddie repartee standing out especially. The narrative wanders a little too much and keeps Taylor on site at the scene of the earlier murder longer than it really ought to. Even though the trigger-puller seems pretty obvious just about halfway through, Housewright keeps trying to throw in more spins to keep readers interested. That tendency affected the earlier trilogy as well. Like an over-reaching gymnast whose stretch for one more twist keeps her from sticking the landing, Housewright could never resist the extra swerve even though it caused an unbalanced story. Likeable characters made those three books work (or didn't; one of the reasons Practice to Deceive fails so completely is that Taylor is such a horse's ass in it).
Holland Taylor is a character who's fun to spend time with but who can become a trial when his creator doesn't make that likeability a strength or keep his eye on the ball in telling a story. A fifth Taylor novel is due in January, and the odd numbers have so far served him better than even ones, so we shall see.
Original available here.