Books
Little Elvises

by Timothy Hallinan
Soho Crime, January 2013, $25.00

Junior Bender is not your average detective. In fact, he’s not a private investigator at all: he’s a professional burglar. But Bender is frequently forced into snooping around crime scenes to ferret out the perp for other criminals who can’t go to the law because, well, they’re sleazy gangsters, murderers, and thieves.

In Crashed, the first book in the series, Bender is blackmailed by some thugs to help one of the most dangerous and feared mob kingpins in Los Angeles: Trey Annunziato. Saddled with a male name, Trey is actually a feared woman, rumored to have murdered her notorious mobster father in order to take over the family business. Annunziato is getting out of the business, but she wants to maintain her considerable wealth and keep her many employees financially secure. Her plan? To make a lavish multimillion-dollar, hardcore pornography movie with a once-popular television star, Thistle Downing, who is now burned out on drugs and booze. She’s also broke, which is why she agrees to make the adult movie in the first place. Bender is ordered to keep his eyes on the fallen star, and although Downing is a handful of trouble, he genuinely likes her and feels protective of her when the paparazzi pounce. On the first day of shooting, however, Downing disappears from the set and it seems someone wants to shut the production down, even if it means killing a few people.

In Little Elvises, the second book in the series, Bender must help out a venal police detective whose uncle, music producer Vinnie DiGaudio, is about to be investigated for the murder of a scumbag tabloid journalist. DiGaudio, who may have mob connections, was planning to kill the reporter, but ironically never got a chance to accomplish it. He wants to find out who shot the journalist and why. Bender has no choice but to take the job (otherwise he’ll be framed for a crime he didn’t commit), and plummets into a familiar world of violence, double-crosses, and high-level corruption. He gets romantically involved with the dead journalist’s sassy widow, Ronnie, and tangles with one of the most powerful (and feared) old gangsters in Los Angeles, Irwin Dressler. Bender, who tries to live by his own moral code, also helps the alcoholic manager of the motel he’s staying at, whose daughter has vanished with a suspected murderer.

As he feels the walls start to close in, Bender wants to flee, though doing so will only cause more destruction, not all of it far from his own estranged family.

One thing that immediately hits you about Timothy Hallinan’s writing is the clarity and snap of his prose. Junior Bender isn’t a gumshoe, but the cadence of his voice and his observations harken back to other great detectives who were expert at landing a crucial, devastating remark, as well as using their fists or a pistol. It’s a cliché, of course, to bring up Raymond Chandler’s Marlowe, but the similarities are nevertheless present in fitting ways. Bender may work in the shadows of the law, but there’s a sense of decency about him, even though he has no illusions regarding what kind of man he is. He’s a career criminal and violence isn’t alien to him. But he’s no thug either. Bender makes for a wonderfully roguish, slightly bad protagonist, equipped with a sharp intelligence and an acidic wit.

Hallinan is also expert at making his many side characters—Bender’s criminal associate Louie the Lost, fallen star Thistle Downing, elderly though still dangerous mobster Dressler, and the combustible Ronnie—come alive, particularly in Downing’s case. What is at first seen as a grotesque parody of showbiz ruin in Crashed, is slowly infused with real emotion and dry insight.

The city of Los Angeles also feels lived-in and tactile, not just a nondescript backdrop that could fit any crime story. Because of his profession, and to keep a few steps ahead of the law (something that doesn’t always work out), Bender must move through many different areas of the city and deal with a variety of people in the process. Hallinan’s Los Angeles is vivid and authentic, a brilliant contrast to the trickery and pretensions of the characters Bender runs into. Both Crashed and Little Elvises were originally published as ebooks, but later snatched up by Soho Crime for print publication. Each book is simply great, and Hallinan displays a special talent for maintaining the careful balance between humor and drama. At times, these are hilarious novels, but they offer up deeper rewards as well. Highly recommended.

Derek Hill

hallinan_littleelvisesJunior Bender, a gumshoe with real voice, takes on music and mob in his second outing.

Teri Duerr
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by Timothy Hallinan
Soho Crime, January 2013, $25.00

Hallinan
January 2013
little-elvises
25.00
Soho Crime