Beating the Babushka [Paperback]

I got fooled. Big time.

Tim Maleeny's breakout book, STEALING THE DRAGON, introduced Cape Weathers to the world of noir detective fiction. One of the more impressive elements of that standout work was his use of San Francisco's Chinatown --- the real Chinatown, not the wide avenues where the tourist buses run --- as a dark backdrop to his complex, enthralling mystery. When I heard that Maleeny's second Cape Weathers novel was to be titled BEATING THE BABUSHKA, my initial thought was something along the order of "Wow! That's great! It will be set in Russian Hill!" I used to live in San Francisco's Russian Hill neighborhood, and since occasionally and unfortunately I operate under the assumption that everything is all about me, I just couldn't wait to revisit my old neighborhood through the eyes of Weathers and Maleeny.

As things develop, however, the book's setting is not Russian Hill. Surprisingly enough, it isn't really set entirely in San Francisco. And that is only the beginning of the surprises that Maleeny plants here. He is a wonderfully strong and confident writer, and other than bringing a couple of supporting characters with him from STEALING THE DRAGON, this is a very different story from its predecessor.

BEATING THE BABUSHKA begins with Weathers being retained to investigate what looks to all the world to be a suicide. Tom Abrahams, who is in San Francisco producing an epic disaster movie for Empire Films, falls to his death from the Golden Gate Bridge. Grace Calloway, Abrahams's co-producer and former lover, is convinced that his death was involuntary. Weathers, though not entirely sure that Abrahams didn't jump on his own, agrees to look into the matter. His curiosity is aroused one hundredfold when a couple of very dangerous gentlemen with Eastern European accents bluntly tell him to disengage himself from the investigation, an instruction that naturally causes Weathers to dig his heels into the ground and begin nosing around.

Weathers has a small but interesting group of folks along to help him --- Linda, a reporter; Beau, a San Francisco homicide detective; Sally, an indispensable martial arts expert; and The Sloth. The Sloth is one of the most interesting supporting characters you're likely to encounter in a contemporary work of fiction --- his very nature keeps him from being used to carry an entire novel --- but Maleeny wisely uses him sparingly, though to great effect. It is worth reading a Weathers story just to encounter The Sloth, who combines a significant personality disorder with an uncanny computer genius.

Weathers and the reader learn quite a bit about the politics and financing of filmmaking, as Weathers's investigation begins to dovetail into a series of bizarre and grisly deaths involving some lesser players in the San Francisco underworld. Weathers literally will go cross-country to solve this case before it is all over, putting himself in deadly jeopardy, escaping with aplomb and wisecracking his way through at least some situations while tap-dancing his way out of others.

Maleeny is an entertaining storyteller who combines elements of noir detective fiction with occasional bits of humor to create a character, and a series, of wide, deep and far-reaching appeal. BEATING THE BABUSHKA goes a long way toward establishing Maleeny as one of the new princes of detective fiction.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

I was impressed enough by the reviews and Amazon.com recommendations for the Tim Maleeny novels that I ordered them both. I read "Beating The Babushka" first since it arrived first. I was obviously much more disappointed than the other reviewers on here but I suppose that is the nature of literature---"different strokes for different folks". I'm sending the other novel back unread. I'll get back to that criticism later.

Cape Weathers, a PI stationed in San Francisco, is asked by Grace Calloway to investigate the apparent suicide (a jump from the Golden Gate Bridge) of her former lover and movie producer Tom Abrahams. Cape is skeptical but agrees to take the case and is soon threatened off the job by Russian mobsters. His curiosity now at fever pitch, Weathers soon is involved with the Russian Mafiya, a retired Russian mob leader, current Mafioso types, Chinese triad leaders, and crooked movie studio executives., whew!

Several murders and several threats later, Cape flies off to New York for further investigation accompanied by his friend, Sally Mei, a deadly Chinese assassin. As Cape zeroes in on the movie industry, the reader is educated about how movies are made, how intricate and fragile the financing can be, and how cut throat the industry is. Several double crosses later, a not too shocking surprise ending occurs that allows Cape to wrap up the case.

My concerns with this book and character revolve around a confusing tone to the novel. It never seems to me to accept whether it is a mystery/thriller with a little humor from its wise-cracking protagonist or a comedy held together by some serious moments. We are all familiar with great wise-cracking protagonists from Mike Hammer to Dave Robicheaux, to Elvis Cole. Cape Weathers, however, seldom speaks seriously for even one paragraph without some usually unfunny wisecracks to whomever he is speaking to. It gets to the point where the reader cringes with embarrassment at some of the constant flow of sophomoric comments and one-liners...not only by Cape but sometimes by other characters like Beau, his detective friend, that seem totally out of appropriate context. There is never a stable underlying tone to the plot nor to the protagonist.

There are some potentially very intriguing secondary characters in this novel but all seem underutilized--a shame since I found Sally, the Sloth, and even Beau, to be more interesting than Cape. Perhaps if the noir/thriller reader is looking to wean himself/herself from the weight of Jack Reacher, Dave Robicheaux, Max Freeman et al, the "lighter" fare of Cape Weathers might be the right cup of tea, so to speak.

After just two books, Tim Maleeny has quickly become one of my favorite authors and Cape Weathers one of my favorite sleuths. Beating the Babushka once again teams Cape up with the deadly and beautiful assassin Sally, taking them from the west coast to the east and back again in a hair raising adventure. Beating the Babushka is well written, colorful, and extremely entertaining.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 8 reviews  4.5 out of 5 stars