Red Sky Lament [Paperback]

Red is often a color associated with anger, passion, and represents fire as well as, at one time, communism. A lament is a cry of sorrow or grief. Red Sky Lament is a fitting title for a novel wrought with all of those characteristics.

During the late 1940's and into the 1950's, J. Parnell Thomas, chairman of the House Un-American Activities Committee opened an investigation into the Hollywood Motion Picture Industry, searching out people who were associated with the Communist Party or showed signs of communist sympathies. Hearings were held condemning Hollywood personalities, ruining their lives and careers with little regard for truth and justice. It was a witch-hunt of sorts, and unless a person subscribed to the popular beliefs at the time, that person could easily be labeled as a communist sympathizer and an outcast.

It is in this environment, with the looming danger of a brush fire that could change course with a shift in the winds and the unsettling threat of the upcoming hearings, that Edward Wright's novel is set. When screenwriter Owen Bruder is accused of being a communist, Maggie O'Dare turns to her old lover, the former cowboy actor and ex-felon John Ray Horn. Despite his misgivings and doubts about the screenwriter, John Ray agrees to take on the case to uncover the identity of the person who lied about Owen Bruder's communist affiliation. As betrayal gives way to murder and the lives of his friends are threatened, John Ray's determination to get to the truth only grows stronger.

There could not be a more perfect main character for a novel like this. John Ray Horn is a man of his time, loyal, a cowboy who will stand up to his convictions and for those he loves, and a man of decent character. He isn't without his flaws, however. His temper and jealously sometimes get in his way. His lack of interest in politics allows a glimpse into just how uncertain things were during that time period, with the strong sense of patriotism but also a sense of fairness, which seemed to get lost in the fear of communism, however real or imagined.

Edward Wright has taken a piece of American history and made it his own in Red Sky Lament. The novel is well researched and captures the heart of the controversy, including the patriotism, the bigotry and the fear of the era. He adeptly weaves fact with fiction, bringing the story to life. The reader is transported to Los Angeles of the 1940's from the very first pages and the characters were well drawn. Red Sky Lament is a mystery novel worth reading whether you are new to the series or a continuing fan.

Trust me, this was a very interesting story.

Set in the 1940-50's America, Red Sky Lament takes place in Hollywood, the hotbed of the "Red" scare, where people were "naming names" about fellow workers in the entertainment industry.

Senator "Parnell" is the book's truth seeker--aided by overzealous helpers and people who advanced or protected themselves by giving up others.

Politics and murder cross paths, way too often. All the while a California-style fire is in the hills...heading this way--just like the threat of communism--thus the Red Sky Lament.

John Ray Horn is a former cowboy star (now unemployed because has been in prison); his movie sidekick and friend is Mad Crow; and friend Maggie O'Dare is queen of the serials (short movie reels before the main movie).

Laura Lee Paisley is the radio gossip star who drops names on her show that can make or breaks career. These days she's dropping names of people suspected of being Communists or at least sympathizers.

Maggie asks Horn to investigate why her father, Owen Bruder, was murdered. Did it have anything to do with the fact that his name was just announced on Paisley's radio show?

While investigating Bruder's murder, John Ray Horn knew..."somebody wanted him dead and had the means to do it." That about says it all. Horn also, "repeated the name as if it were a piece of food he was trying to dislodge from his teeth."

Who killed Owen, and was it political, or something else? The who and the why are the essence of the book.

This is a real "noir" book, set among that era of blacklists, and long-gone names of Roy Rogers and Gene Autry and other movie trivia are sprinkled among the characters, and even song writer, man of the people, Woody Guthrie appears to sing and comment on the situation.

Not only did the writer give us a good story, he had a lot of very good lines. Being published in England, the American reader has to overlook the different use of punctuation.

Armchair Interviews says: You can feel the fear that maybe "today's the day my name" will be given.

This engrossing novel expertly recreates the time and place in which its characters battle for their integrity against the commie-hunters of J. Parnell Thomas' nefarious committee. Along with this atmospheric treat, we get a well-realized murder mystery that has its own interest. It's hard to imagine that the U.S. was once so paranoid about communism as to fall for the machinations of red-baiters like Thomas and Joe McCarthy. But then a look at current religious conflicts suggests that times haven't changed much.