The
Blue Cheer
A Frank Johnson
Mystery
Ed Lynskey
Point Blank Press (Trade Paperback)
ISBN-10: 0-8095-5667-7 (0809556677)
ISBN-13: 978-0-8095-5667-0 (9870809556670)
Publication Date: February 2007
List Price: $12.95
Synopsis (from
the publisher): P.I. Frank Johnson has moved to Scarab, West Virginia,
drawn by the promise of lazy days and the lure of its tranquil
mountains.
What he finds instead is a Stinger rocket exploding over his back yard.
His ensuing investigation uncovers a cult called the Blue Cheer, a
racist group with ugly terrorist plans. As events heat up, blood starts
to spill, and for Frank it all gets real personal real quick. With the
help of his bounty hunter pal, he sets out to bring the Blue Cheer to
justice -- any way he can!
Review:
Ed Lynskey changes the venue for Frank Johnson in his second mystery, The Blue Cheer,
placing the private investigator in West Virginia to solve a senseless
murder.
The wife of an old friend, confined to a wheelchair, is brutally
tortured and murdered. Why would anyone harm someone who was so
harmless? Frank and the victim's husband, Old Man Maddox, set out to
avenge her death, and quickly suspect that a cult group living in the
West Virginia mountains may be responsible. Called the Blue Cheer, the
organization advocates the separation of races but also promotes
atheism. Old Man is black, his dead wife white; could her murder have
been a message that the Blue Cheer doesn't tolerate mixed marriages in
its neighborhood? Or could it mean something more sinister?
For what is arguably a hard-boiled mystery novel, The Blue Cheer
is deft in drawing the reader into the story using a subtle, nuanced
approach to plotting and in narrative. After Old Man is gunned down,
it's clear that the case is more complex than Frank originally thought
and rather than go it alone he brings in another old friend, bounty
hunter extraordinaire (by his own admission) Gerald Peyton, to continue
the investigation. Frank and Gerald work at the fringes of the law to
bring down the Blue Cheer and ensure that Old Man and his wife's
murders don't go unpunished.
The only inconsistency in this fine mystery is the subplot involving
Frank's imprisoned (and later escaped) cousin Rodney Bellweather. It's
not obvious that including Frank's role in tracking down Rodney adds
any value to the book nor is its resolution, independent and unrelated
to that of the main plot, very satisfactory.
The Blue Cheer
is a P. I. novel at its best and deserves to be recognized as such.
Special thanks to Point Blank Press for providing an ARC of The Blue Cheer for this review.
Review Copyright © 2007 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.
Mysteries in this series ...
The Dirt-Brown Derby
Mundania Press (Trade Paperback), July 2006
ISBN-10: 0-8253-0510-1 (1594262322)
ISBN-13: 978-0-8253-0510-8 (9781594262326)
The Blue Cheer
Point Blank Press (Trade Paperback), February 2007
ISBN-10: 0-8095-5667-7 (0809556677)
ISBN-13: 978-0-8095-5667-0 (9870809556670)
Omnimystery keywords for The Blue Cheer ...
Location(s) referenced: Virginia, West
Virginia.
