The Dirt Brown Derby
A Frank
Johnson Mystery
Ed
Lynskey
Mundania Press (Trade Paperback)
ISBN-10: 1-59426-232-2 (1594262322)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59426-232-6 (9781594262326)
Publication Date: July 2006
List Price: $12.00
Synopsis (from
the publisher): PI Frank Johnson is hired by Mary Taliaferro, a wealthy
aristocrat owning a horse estate near Middleburg, Virginia.
Mary's teen-age daughter Emily has died in a riding tragedy. The local
law enforcement says it’s an accident. Mary thinks it’s
murder.
Frank is broke and the money Mary offers is too good to pass up, but
his case quickly becomes more complicated when the stable manager is
murdered one day after he starts his investigation.
Frank soon discovers that there is much more going on here, and he is
determined to get to the truth, even if it kills him!
Review: Ed
Lynskey's debut mystery, The
Dirt-Brown Derby, introduces private investigator Frank Johnson,
and is sure to please fans of hard-boiled detective fiction.
After being offered an obscene amount of money to take a case ("Let's
set your retainer at, oh, say $50,000." "What if I say no?" "$200,000
is my final offer"), PI Frank Johnson is persuaded to look into the
death of Emily Taliaferro, the daughter of Mary Taliaferro, a Virginia
horse breeder who is convinced she was murdered. The cause of death:
her head was crushed by a thoroughbred. Initially, Frank tends to agree
with the police who rule the young woman's death a tragic accident, but
when the horse's trainer is found dead the next day, he's convinced to
dig deeper.
Lynskey doesn't waste any time getting to the action in The Dirt-Brown Derby. Within the
first few paragraphs, Frank is confronted by local toughs who are
willing and able to show him he's not welcome in their town. After
putting them in their place, he then tests the limits of police
tolerance. All this suggests that, from the author's perspective,
actions speak louder than words, at least in terms of character
development. It's quite clear from the first chapter what kind of PI
Frank is: tough, uncompromising, willing to bend a few rules in the
interest of the truth (and at times just to see if he can get away with
it), and more than a little cynical.
What's also clear from the first chapter is that there isn't much of a
mystery here. Most readers will know who killed Emily right away, and
can probably make an educated guess at the motive as well. The reason
to continue reading is to enjoy Lynskey's portrayal of Frank Johnson,
his descriptive, noir-ish style of writing, and the colorful cast of
characters he's populated the book with. What would have elevated this
book into the top tier is some unexpected plot twist instead of the
telegraphed conclusion provided.
Special thanks to Ed Lynskey for providing a copy of The Dirt Brown Derby for this review.
Review Copyright © 2007 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved
Have you read The Dirt Brown Derby? How would you rate it?
Mysteries in this series …
The Dirt Brown Derby
Mundania Press (Trade Paperback), July 2006
ISBN-10: 1-59426-232-2 (1594262322)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59426-232-6 (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 (9780809556670)
Pelham Fell Here
Mundania Press (Trade Paperback), August 2008
ISBN-10: 1-59426-401-5 (1594264015)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59426-401-6 (9781594264016)
Omnimystery keywords for The Dirt Brown Derby ...
Location(s) referenced: Virginia.
