From Publishers Weekly
The second novel in Fassbender and Pascoe's (By the Balls) neo-noir crime series again features hard-hitting, quick-thinking PI Benjamin Drake. The new book presents five connected stories by fictional author Dashiell Loveless that explore the seamy underside of fictional Testacy City, Nev., where no one is above suspicion. In "The Silent Ventriloquist," Drake finds his client's missing ventriloquist husband only to learn that the missing party is really a faceless wooden dummy that channels the voice of its dead owner. In "Death Plays a Foul Game," Drake, smitten by the mysterious Beth Hrubi, goes undercover to a cockfight to rub elbows with Testacy City's most notorious underworld figures. And in "Raspberry Jack," Drake matches wits with a serial killer who marks his victims' foreheads with a lavender letter. The PI drives a powder-blue 1966 Galaxy 500, wears a Borsalino fedora, drinks Old Grand-Dad and is a sucker for a femme fatale. Dashiell Loveless, the "author" of these delightfully slick stories and a pulp artifact himself, exists in an ironic fiction-limbo that pays homage to the writing of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett, while Fassbender and Pascoe have a bit of literary fun on their own terms. The b&w cover and interior illustrations by noted comics artist Pope are crisply expressive, and the book's design, compact size and back cover crime scene diagram intentionally recall the pocket paperback mysteries of the 1940s. (May)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
"... a genre-bending read for the fashion conscious." -- New Times Los Angeles, February 3, 2000
"...a sharp-as-a-knife parody and a loving tribute. It's the rare book that works as straight hard-boiled entertainment and as sly and clever satire. [Five Shots and a Funeral] does both in spades." -- January Magazine, February 2000
Meet cigar-smoking, bourbon-drinking detective Ben Drake in Five Shots And A Funeral, a hard-boiled, pulp fiction style collection of five murder-packed mystery capers. Included in this outstanding anthology are The Silent Ventriloquist; Death Plays a Foul Game; A Cold-Blooded Kidnapping; Midnight Train to Nowhere; and Raspberry Jack. Tom Fassbender and Jim Pascoe are good as they get in the murder mystery business -- and their energetic stories are enhanced with seven black and white, full page illustrations. -- Midwest Book Review, December 1999
"...a sharp-as-a-knife parody and a loving tribute. It's the rare book that works as straight hard-boiled entertainment and as sly and clever satire. [Five Shots and a Funeral] does both in spades." -- January Magazine, February 2000
Meet cigar-smoking, bourbon-drinking detective Ben Drake in Five Shots And A Funeral, a hard-boiled, pulp fiction style collection of five murder-packed mystery capers. Included in this outstanding anthology are The Silent Ventriloquist; Death Plays a Foul Game; A Cold-Blooded Kidnapping; Midnight Train to Nowhere; and Raspberry Jack. Tom Fassbender and Jim Pascoe are good as they get in the murder mystery business -- and their energetic stories are enhanced with seven black and white, full page illustrations. -- Midwest Book Review, December 1999
Book Description
Follow cigar-smoking, bourbon-drinking detective Ben Drake as he returns in this collection of murder-packed mystery capers. Includes "The Silent Ventriloquist," Death Plays a Foul Game," A Cold-Blooded Kidnapping," "Midnight Train to Nowhere," and the highly-anticipated case of "Raspberry Jack." Full-color cover and seven interior illustrations by Paul Pope.
