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Black Shadows (Errol Black)
 
 

Black Shadows (Errol Black) [Kindle Edition]

Simon Swift
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)

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Review

Black Shadows is a tightly written piece of noir fiction, inviting obvious comparisons to Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. --HarperCollins

The setting, the wisecracks, the gangster element, the upright but flawed detective falling for the beautiful woman - what's there not to like? --Gerry McCullough, author of Belfast Girls

Excellent read. One of the best detective stories I've read. Great characters and a very good plot. The pace is fast and really holds your interest. This one is well worth reading. I highly recommend it. --John Harold McCoy, author of Bramwell Valley

If you fancy being drawn into the world of film noir, slick private eyes and femme fatales, this is the book for you. Here's lookin at you, kid. --Catherine Chisnall, author of Surfacing and Descending

It is one of the best NY stories I've read. LOVE LOVE that opening - the mention of the shooting and the visual of the bloody steak. Not-so-subtle brilliance. --Elizabeth Lindberg, New York actress, playwright and author of Dionysus and Out of Sync

Black Shadows is Raymond Chandler or James Ellroy reinvented for the 21st century. There's a real authenticity about the period; the setting - New York in the 1940s - the characters - all coming together in a detective story that really hits the heights.

From the dramatic opening onwards, the reader is hooked. It's a proven formula: a wisecracking detective, exotic female characters and shady gangsters, but here everything works so well. --Jake Barton, bestselling crime author of Burn Baby Burn

The setting, the wisecracks, the gangster element, the upright but flawed detective falling for the beautiful woman - what's there not to like? --Gerry McCullough, author of Belfast Girls

It is one of the best NY stories I've read. LOVE LOVE that opening - the mention of the shooting and the visual of the bloody steak. Not-so-subtle brilliance. --Elizabeth Lindberg, New York actress, playwright and author of Dionysus and Out of Sync

Product Description

When rookie private detective, Errol Black, gets mixed up in the killing of gangster Dutch Schultz, he vows to clean up his act. But when former partner Dyke Spanner is shot to death, Black is drawn into a violent and bloody quest for a mythical, priceless diamond.

New Jersey 1935: When private detective, Errol Black and his fellow agents, are protecting an Irish mobster they become embroiled in the killing of Dutch Schultz. A gunfight leaves bloody chaos.

Ten years later, Black’s past is about to catch up with him. A young woman hires Black for a seemingly routine surveillance job, former partner Dyke Spanner is shot dead and Black is drawn deeper into a violent and bloody quest.

The search for the priceless blue Tavernier Diamond throws Black into the line of fire of New York’s ruthless Tongs. To even hope to solve the mystery, Black must journey into his past where both the secret to Dyke’s murder and the clues to the hidden diamond lay.

Black Shadows is a crime thriller blending fact and fiction. In the finest hardboiled tradition, it is filled with gangsters, beautiful dames, colourful villains and red herrings.

"Black Shadows is a tightly written piece of noir fiction, inviting obvious comparisons to Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett." ~ HarperCollins

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Product details

  • Format: Kindle Edition
  • File Size: 619 KB
  • Print Length: 322 pages
  • Publisher: Wild Wolf Publishing (21 Mar 2011)
  • Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B004TAFNCM
  • Text-to-Speech: Enabled
  • X-Ray: Enabled
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #162,558 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
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Customer Reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5 stars
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A great read 6 Jun 2011
Format:Kindle Edition
This is such a good story. Its one you just will not not be able to put down. Forget the housework, put your feet up and just sit back and enjoy. I can recommend it to anyone who likes Detective stores and wants to be transported into a world of intrigue and mystery.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition
BLACK SHADOWS takes place back in a time when dames was dames and men wore fedoras. Detectives talked tough, threw punches and pounded the pavement looking for clues, solving crimes because when a detective gets killed it's bad for business and bad for detectives everywhere.

So, it takes place in New York City, circa 1940.

Private dick (aka, detective) Errol Black, aka, Eezy, is sitting in his office when the lovely Claudia comes in and hires him to follow her no-good fiance, George Ferriby, who she thinks is stepping out on her. Why, that awful man! But wait! Then, there's a redhead, and her name is Marlow. Hmm ... sound familiar? Anyhow, Marlow says she's Claudia's sister -- well, not really her blood sister, but her best friend in the whole world.

So ... whilst this is going on there are these other guys doing stuff. (BTW, do you like that word? Whilst? Because you're going to see it a lot. :)) In fact, there's a fat man known as the Coward. Or the Portly Gangster. Maybe. He has a kid with a gun working for him. And it seems a dame is associated with them. I won't say who. Does this sound at all familiar? They want to meet Black up in Woodstock. And hold a rock concert? Of course not. They want to find something. And it's not the Maltese Falcon, believe it or not.

And somehow this all relates to the murder of Dyke Spanner, Black's former partner at The Shadow Man Detective Agency which died with Terry Shadow (accidentally) in a Mob hit on Arthur Flegenheimer five years before.

Plus the Tong, aka, the Chinese mafia, are all mixed up in this, too.

Oh, did I mention the plot is a bit complex? Maybe you've already sussed that out.

Suffice it to say, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Simon Swift is a clever wordsmith. Thus, some of the book's familiar criminal scenarios read far better than they might in less capable hands. And the plot was a most meandering tangle of threads ... but it all works out somehow, right? :)

And, I might add that Swift can be awfully funny, too. However, even though you might get the idea that Black is like any old hardboiled PI, he isn't just Sam Spade, okay? He actually seems to have a heart, which makes him different and interesting. But he ain't mushy, either. You got that?

So, if you enjoy the old hardboiled detective novels, you're in for a real treat. Because this is a book that truly harkens back to a time when dames was dames and men wore fedoras and detectives were tough talkers. There's just one thing. There was no rock and roll in the 1940s. Oh, no! :-0
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulously slick and witty 31 Mar 2012
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book came to me highly recommended, so I admit I approached it with a measure of bias. But I have to agree, this is a super slick, twisty turny read that just oozes atmosphere. Get into black and white film mode for this one and just soak it up! Errol is a great character and the subtle humour which threads it's way throughout the story lifts this from the usual noir.

Finely crafted and very more-ish. More please!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars have to read
This is interesting book about a PI who gets involved in a case that seems simple and turns out to be most important in his life. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Peteris Mikelsons
1.0 out of 5 stars Tedious
I can only sum this book up as tedious. The narrative is over embellished and the main character is either in bed with all the ladies who he constantly patronizes, drunk on brandy... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Richard Smith
5.0 out of 5 stars Fast Paced Noir
If you like your detective stories noir, then you'll definitely like Simon Swift's novel, Black Shadows. Read more
Published 14 months ago by ML Hamilton
5.0 out of 5 stars Are diamonds really a girl's best friend?
In 1935 Errol Black witnessed the bloody shooting of gangster Dutch Schultz in a New York hostelry.
Amid the carnage - and unknown to Errol at the time - a valuable gem went... Read more
Published 15 months ago by Elinor Carlisle
5.0 out of 5 stars A Classic
Black Shadows is slick, witty and reads like a classic b&w film. I wouldn't say this is my genre, but it doesn't matter because Swift is a master story-teller evoking a... Read more
Published 17 months ago by Shalini Boland
5.0 out of 5 stars As Noir As A French Cigarette
Errol Black is a grizzled private eye who works for The Shadow Man Detective Agency. He is a man with a past. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Paul D Brazill
5.0 out of 5 stars Good God this is good!
I started to read this book with some trepidation; comparisons to Hammett and Chandler...Ellroy reinvented...could this new guy be THAT good? Read more
Published 20 months ago by Weescottishlassie
5.0 out of 5 stars They Don't Write Them Like This Anymore
Each month brings another batch of novels. Of the hundreds, and thousands, there are a handfull of books that I wish I had written. Black Shadows is one such novel. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Mr. John Holt
5.0 out of 5 stars Black Shadows
If you are nostalgic for 1940's Manhattan. If you are a fan of Chandler, Bogart or Spillane then you have walked into the right bar. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Mr. Patrick Barrett
5.0 out of 5 stars Swift moves out of the Shadows
Debut author Simon Swift certainly moves out of the shadows with BLACK SHADOWS, a compulsive, nail-biting, roller-coaster of a crime thriller which ticks all the right boxes. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Andrew Kirby
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