Gillespie Field Groove

$11.95

Category: Tag: Product ID: 10088

Description

The fifth installment of the Rolly Waters Mystery series, Gillespie Field Groove offers a fresh take on the classic P.I. trope. Rolly Waters, aging musician and seasoned private investigator, is thrilled to take on a new case when part-time pilot, full-time RN Lucinda Rhodes comes to him for help tracking down a Stratocaster guitar left to her by her late father. He’s even more thrilled when he learns the guitar may have been previously owned by the late great Jimi Hendrix. Unfortunately, the increasingly suspicious circumstances of Gerry Rhodes’s death prove to be less than thrilling because as soon as Rolly starts digging around for information on the guitar’s whereabouts he unearths much more than either he or Lucinda bargained for. Between the shady involvement of Russian mobsters, the subsequent appearance of the FBI, the sleazy backdoor dealings of a crooked record executive, and a suspicious forty-year-old shooting connected to the case, Rolly has his work cut out for him.

While certainly not qualifiable as a cozy mystery in the classic sense, Fayman’s writing style makes you feel like you’re suited up and buckled in for the ride. Is that ride going obscenely fast on a deserted stretch of runway? Sure, but trust me when I say the Pilot knows exactly what he’s doing and where he’s going. This was the first book I’ve read in the series, and while you can tell there’s some history between Rolly and his supporting cast, it’s not obligatory to start from book one since the author deftly peppers in little tidbits of backstory when necessary.

Speaking of the supporting cast, I was really impressed with how diverse all of the characters are (admittedly not something I’m used to from an older male author). There are significant anti-racist and feminist threads running throughout the length of the novel in a way that makes them integral to the story rather than just a side note to the surprisingly progressive main plot. Not only is the storyline incredibly detailed, but it’s also layered in such a way that each chapter brings an entirely new perspective on the story that is both unexpected and somehow completely logical in the context of each character’s motivations. That’s a really difficult thing to pull off in this genre, where the reader often has to deal either with shallow characters and explosive plotlines or complex interpersonal webs with very little action. Add to that the fact that Rolly is such a genuinely likable character instead of the usual gruff sleuth with a dark past and you’ve got a fabulous weekend read to add to your TBR.

Additional information

Author

Corey Lynn Fayman

Format

Trade

ISBN

9780998748283

Issue

March 2023

Page count

276 pages

Publication date

15-Mar-2023

Publisher

Konstellation Press

Star count

5

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