Jimmy "Soldier" Riley & Ray Parker

Is it homage or fromage?

The first mention of The Big Goodbye (2006; revised 2011), suggests yet another Chandler pastiche, especially when you hear it revolves around a hard-boiled 1940s private detective. Questions arise, like what's the sequel gonna be? The Long Sleep? The Little Sister in the Lake? Or maybe The Maltese Harvest?

But author Lister proves he's got more tricks up his sleeve than merely aping Brother Ray in this moody, twitchy slice of 1940's-style Florida noir. JIMMY "SOLDIER" RILEY and his boss RAY PARKER are definitely originals.

Parker is a "squarish and conservative" ex-Pinkerton op who runs a small detective agency in the Florida Panhandle with the assistance of Riley, an idealistic young former cop half his age who lost his right arm while on the force but whom everyone thinks is a war hero.

Rounding out the small staff is the lovestruck July, their part-time secretary, who has it bad for Ray.

Ray's a man of few words, which is why Jimmy acts as narrator, I guess, but it works. Jimmy -- through Lister -- brings a nice edge and plenty of snappy patter to the proceedings, as well as a finely wrought sense of time and place, and the faint touch of hero worship both Jimmy and July seem to have for the flawed but captivating Ray adds just the right amount of humanity to keep things grounded and safe from flying into the noirosphere of excess.

Still, the author, Michael Llister, has received some pretty impressive blurbs from some writers I've come to respect, so there may be more here than meets the orb. And the use of the Florida Panhandle, caught up in the wartime economic boom, makes for a fresh setting with plenty of potential.

And the author's no cheese-eating rookie, either.

A former prison chaplain, Michael Lister is also an award-winning novelist who grew up in North Florida near the Gulf of Mexico and the Apalachicola River. Previous novels include Thunder Beach, Double Exposure and the John Jordan series, about an ex-cop turned prison chaplain.

UNDER OATH

• "Stylish, retro, and highly entertaining. Michael Lister's PI Jimmy "Soldier" Riley is a compelling new noir hero."
  -- Jason Starr, author of Twisted City and Bust
  
  
• "A seductive mix of sudden violence and raw emotion, Michael Lister's The Big Goodbye is a much-welcome contribution to the hardboiled, P.I. tradition.  Cool stuff."
  -- Victor Gischler, author of Gun Monkeys and Shotgun Opera

SHORT STORIES

• "In a Spider's Web" (2006, North Florida Noir)

NOVELS

• The Big Goodbye (2006; revised 2011) ..Buy this book.. Nook it!

Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.