Review: A mischievous melding of genres
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 26, 2013
From the author of the excellent Joey Costa series comes a rather different novel, set like those books in California but this time in sun-soaked Monterey. Carlos Acuna, a forty-something retired investigator of art crime with the FBI, arrives in a small community looking for some way to make ends meet while he pursues his interest in photography. Acuna is sometimes mistaken for, and lives somewhat in the shadow of, his famous artist father, with whom he has a less than cordial relationship. Soon Acuna falls in with a patron from an artistic dynasty which may or may not be involved in an art fraud dating back through several generations. Despite his retired status, Acuna's investigator's instincts haven't left him, and he pursues the case to Mexico and back, encountering along the way mobsters of the Hong Kong and Mexican varieties, small-time criminals, arrest, and arson.This beautifully written novel virtually defines a genre of its own. Its David Lynchesque small town with dark secrets bubbling underneath and its femmes fatales and skulduggery hint at noir; its complex criminal conspiracy and Acuna's unpicking thereof suggest the police procedural; its crackling wit and snappy dialogue channel the caper genre of Elmore Leonard. But it melds all of these into something greater, and less easily definable.Monterey Mischief has deftly drawn, believable characters who never slip into caricature, vividly portrayed settings, and a style as smooth as the Communist rum its protagonist develops a taste for. It's well worth your time.