Junior Bender is back to untangle one of the weirdest mysteries in Tinseltown.
LA burglar Junior Bender has, unfortunately, developed a reputation as a competent private investigator for crooks. The unfortunate part about this is that, regardless of whether he solves the crime or not, someone dangerous is going to be unhappy with him—either his suspect or his employer.
Now Junior is being bullied into proving aging music-industry mogul Vinnie DiGaudio is innocent of the murder of a nasty tabloid journalist he'd threatened to kill a couple times. It doesn't help that the dead journalist's widow is one pretty lady, and she's trying to get Junior to mix business with pleasure. Just as the investigation is spiraling out of control, Junior's hard-drinking landlady begs him to solve the disappearance of her daughter, who has gotten involved with a very questionable character. And, worst news of all, both Junior's ex-wife and his thirteen-year-old daughter, Rina, seem to have new boyfriends. What a mess.
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"Very funny in parts; sad and poignant in other parts ... And always keeping the tension ramped up to keep the pages turning (and we realize with Junior that that's how he lives his life). Some implausible situations, but hey ... 'Twas fun." — L. (4 out of 5 stars)
"Very funny in parts; sad and poignant in other parts ... And always keeping the tension ramped up to keep the pages turning (and we realize with Junior that that's how he lives his life). Some implausible situations, but hey ... 'Twas fun."
“Hallinan introduces us to a drugged-out, pain-impervious hit man, a nonagenarian puppet master who rules the LA underworld, a tabloid reporter who uses his job as a cover to blackmail the rich and the famous, and a host of other characters as dangerously outrageous as the murderous crew obsessed with obtaining the black bird in Hammett’s 1930 masterpiece.”
“Splendidly entertaining.”
“The first book in the series, Crashed, was great fun. The new one, Little Elvises, is even better.”
“Captures the SoCal milieu perfectly and impeccably.”
“Think of him as a detective for the delinquent, a fixer for felons.”
“Hallinan’s second Junior Bender mystery sends the LA burglar/PI on a journey into pop music’s supposedly innocuous 1950s past, mixing light and dark humor…The skewed, Runyonesque Southern California setting, epitomized by Junior’s home, the seedy but festively Yule-themed Marge ’n Ed’s North Pole motel, promises much for further outings.”
“In Hallinan’s Los Angeles, where everyone leans on everyone else, investigator/thief Junior Bender gets leaned on good. Versatile Hallinan provides a wealth of seamy types, past and present, and a thousand hard-boiled similes for his second-string Philip Marlowe.”
“Every now and then a writer comes along with the imagination and skill to make the whole thing feel fresh and new again. That’s what veteran crime novelist Timothy Hallinan has accomplished.”
" Junior Bender is my new favorite good 'bad guy'. "
" Great characters good action -- fun read! "
" Junior Bender is quickly becoming one of may favorites in the genre. Another winner from Hallinan. If you read and liked CRASHED, you are going to love this installment. Highly recommended. "
" I really like this author. I'm planning to read all his books. "
Timothy Hallinan is the Edgar and Macavity Award–nominated author of over a dozen widely praised books, including the Poke Rafferty Bangkok thrillers and the Junior Bender series. In 2010 he conceived and edited an e-book of original short stories by twenty mystery writers, Shaken: Stories for Japan, with 100 percent of the proceeds going to Japanese disaster relief.
Peter Berkrot, winner of Audie and Earphones Awards for narration, is a stage, screen, and television actor and acting coach. He has narrated over 450 works that span a range of genres, including fiction, nonfiction, thriller, and children’s titles. His audiobook credits include works of Alan Glynn, Eric Van Lustbader, Nora Roberts and Dean Koontz. In film and television, he appeared in Caddyshack, America’s Most Wanted, and Unsolved Mysteries. He performs in regional and New York theaters and directs the New Voices acting school.
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