Gerald “Jerry” Newton runs a detective agency in Boise,
Idaho; not Los Angeles, not Chicago, not even Brooklyn. It isn’t exactly the
locale one first envisions when imaging a classic gumshoe tale. For the most
part, one would be right. Most of the cases Jerry and his crew investigate are
run-of-the-mill, boring security details. Then a Mr. Durand, a lowly fourth
grade teacher and part time counselor at a soccer camp, brings him an unusual case.
Durand has been receiving threatening letters, and he suspects that somebody is
out to kill him. Jerry takes the case, thinking it’s probably just a kid
angered over a failing grade blowing off steam. Then Durand’s car explodes, and
the mystery deepens. It seems Durand is keeping secrets.
An Ounce of Prevention
by Adam Graham is a modern take on the traditional Marlow/Spade detective story
with all of the tropes and none of the clichés. Yes, the detective is a former
cop with friends on the force, but he wasn’t drummed out for breaking the
rules, and he didn’t quit because of departmental politics. His reason for
leaving the force is much more personal and believable. Yes, there’s a femme fatale,
but she’s neither cold-blooded nor calculating. And unlike the counter-culture anti-heroes
most shamuses turn out to be, Jerry goes to Church, he loves his mother, he
drinks Mountain Dew, and he hates when his employee chews gum.
The dialogue is well crafted and flows nicely and
realistically. The characters have actual depth for the most part, although the
villain is a bit on the caricature-side. The narration is appropriately
hardboiled without seeming forced. Even the denouement and post-script are
satisfying and unexpectedly more than a simple wrap-up. The story does have one
flaw, however.
Without giving too much away, there’s a science-fiction
twist to the story which is necessary to the tale the author wants to tell. However
most of the players are either too eager to accept the discordant reality; or even
if a character doesn’t embrace it, or if he explains it away, he’s too unconcerned
about the mental states of those who do accept it. A few lines about a
character being unable to process what he’d seen, or another character
suggesting that his friend should see somebody professionally to deal with his
delusions would have gone a long way to alleviate that issue.
Overall though, An
Ounce of Prevention is a fun, short read that’s prefect for fans of both
genres who enjoy a good cross-over storyline.
Adam’s novella can be purchased for the Kindle.
Excerpt
"You
sound like an expert."
I
nodded. "I should be. I was a cop for about eight years. Towards the end I
worked the juvenile division."
"How
long?"
Long
enough to find four kids starving to death living in one room of an apartment
with the body of their one year old dead baby brother thrown in a trash bag
while the mother worked her meth lab. Long enough to spend ten straight days
barely sleeping, looking for a missing boy, only to find he'd been dead the
whole time with the mother covering for her psycho boyfriend. Long enough to hear
people joking on the radio about a thirteen year old boy who was molested by
his female teacher and long enough to attend the funeral after he committed
suicide.
I
stopped, rubbed my hand across my face, looked at the sky, and shook my head.
"Too long."
"What
do you do now?"
"I
run a private investigations and security agency."
"So
you're a shamus?"
I
blinked and chuckled. "Shamus? Just because the dances were from the 1940s
doesn't mean our dialogue has to be."
She
laughed. "Last semester, I taught on Dashiell Hammett and Raymond
Chandler."
I
raised a hand. "The life of a real private investigator is nothing like
fiction. My firm has almost no interaction with the police. Most of our work is
insurance investigation and security for businesses."
She
grunted. "I know the difference between fiction and reality, thank
you."
"Some
people don't and they want to know about the last femme fatale I met or the last
time I was knocked unconscious by a gangster."
We
crossed the street to the parking lot. I pulled the parking stub from my pocket.
She
asked, "Hasn't anything interesting happened at all recently?"
I
walked towards Row H. "Only thing was a client was car bombed when we were
watching him."
"Police
have any clues?"
"I
doubt it."
"Do
they have any idea what the motive is?"
I
shrugged. "Who knows?"
"Maybe
he deserved it."
I found my car and
leaned on it. "I much prefer God and the courts mete out justice. Somebody
other than my client could have gotten hurt. The courts may take a while, but
they won't hurt innocent bystanders."
