Customer Reviews

Alone

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In "Alone," the second Valentino novel from Loren D. Estleman, our film detective finds himself up to his ears in renovating the old movie palace he's bought, with the help of his contractor, Kalishnikov (really!), and hindered by a supercilious government building inspector who could make life very difficult for him indeed. In the meantime, a very wealthy magnate has invited Valentino and his date, Harriet, to a party in honour of Greta Garbo's centenary, requesting everybody to dress in appropriate costume. Harriet turns out to be a dead ringer for Garbo, which causes the host - whose late wife was a great friend of the film goddess - to faint, which in turn allows him to talk privately to Valentino about the fact that his secretary is blackmailing him with a letter, purported to be from Garbo to his late wife and suggesting a very, er, intimate relationship between them. When said magnate subsequently shoots and kills said secretary, citing blackmail and physical threats as the cause, Valentino reluctantly finds himself teaming up with a fairly unsavory police lieutenant to get to the bottom of the matter.... I rarely read books by the same author back-to-back, as usually the enjoyment is diluted by repetition, but in this case, I found Valentino just as engaging and entertaining as I did in the first novel, "Frames." Relationships deepen here, between Valentino and Harriet, and between Valentino and Professor Broadhead, and between the Prof and Fanta, a decades-younger woman who is studying law at UCLA. The resolution of the situation was not what I expected, and the tidbits about the screen icon, Garbo, both during her time in Hollywood and in her reclusive life afterwards, were fascinating to read. Again, Estleman concludes the novel with bibliographies, about Garbo in particular and silent films moving into talkies more generally, and provides a generous filmography of Garbo's films, with detailed synopses. How often can you say you've read a novel with real-world appendices like that? Recommended!

"Now when evening came, He was alone there." -- Matthew 14:23

Don't start this series with Alone: Go back and read Frames first, the initial book in the Valentino series.

I'm a big fan of Loren D. Estleman and picked up a copy of Alone on the strength of that liking. Utterly charmed by the story, I pulled my reading temporarily to a halt mid-way through and headed out to find Frames. The back story for Alone seemed just too good to be true. I had to find out more. I'm sure glad that I did.

I won't share any details. That will rob the story of its charm. Mr. Estleman can tell Valentino's story much better than I can hope to do.

If you are looking for an action thriller with a hard-boiled detective in a noir style, Alone won't appeal to you. But if you have a fondness for Hollywood, the history of the movies, the silent movie era, and a romantic mystery filled with outrageously good humor, Alone will charm you for sure.

On the surface, Alone can feel like fluff . . . but beneath the almost self-satirical humor lies a delightful plot, a gag environment, and a Keystone Kops-like approach to detection that fits closer to Stephanie Plum than to Sherlock Holmes.

Be warned that the murder mystery is simply there to move the plot along. If you like difficult whodunits, this book also isn't for you.

To me, the humorous mystery is the most difficult kind of book to write. Mr. Estleman carries it off like the pro that he is. He's having so much fun with this story that you cannot help but smile at the plot and in his obvious pleasure in writing the book.

If you have ever been hassled by a building inspector, you'll especially like this book.

Bravo!