Halfway around the world, war has begun, but for Dorie Lennox, a newly-minted private eye on her first tail, danger is more immediate. The dark streets of Kansas City of 1939 offer swing music, fast cars, gangsters, and the chance to forget about the Depression and her own murky past. Dorie is thrown into a quickly unraveling scam that offers salvation to few - and misery to plenty. With vivid prose and sharp dialogue, the world of Dorie Lennox comes alive, behind the wheel of her Packard, into the packinghouses, race tracks, and mansions of jazz-age Kansas City. The landscape of America and the homefront of World War II are evoked in a thoughtful mystery that lingers for the force of characters and keen sharpness of a slice of history seen through the perceptive, compassionate eyes of Dorie Lennox.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
By 1939 the Great Depression is all but over and prohibition has been repealed. President Roosevelt wants to keep the country out of the latest Great War in Europe even as many of his countrymen want to serve overseas. Dorrie Lennox is somewhat concerned with global events, but is more interested in her work as a private detective. Her partner is Amos Haddan, a victim of mustard gas that haunts him two decades after the war to end all wars ended.
Dorie's latest engagement involves tailing Iris Jackson to see if she is cheating on her boyfriend. She follows Iris for a week only to observe her target commit suicide by jumping off the Hannibal Bridge. Stunned by the event, the case continues when her client hires Dorrie to conduct a thorough investigation of Iris' life. However, a twist occurs when the police charge her mentor Amos with murder, leaving it to Dorrie to find out who set them up so smoothly.
Lise McClendon, author of the Thorssen mysteries, shows how versatile her talent is with a new series set in 1939 that uses period idioms and vernacular to set the tone. This technique along with historical references provides a glimpse at the atmosphere of the era just before America's entry into World War II. The complex, cleverly crafted mystery keeps reader's attention throughout the novel. Dorie is hard-boiled on the outside yet tender on the inside, as she has risen above some tough breaks in her life. Ms. McClendon has started a new winning series that will please historical mystery fans.
Harriet Klausner
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3.9 out of 5 stars
15 reviews
19 of 19 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
So atmosheric one feels like they are in 1939
14 Feb 2001
By Harriet Klausner
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
By 1939 the Great Depression is all but over and prohibition has been repealed. President Roosevelt wants to keep the country out of the latest Great War in Europe even as many of his countrymen want to serve overseas. Dorrie Lennox is somewhat concerned with global events, but is more interested in her work as a private detective. Her partner is Amos Haddan, a victim of mustard gas that haunts him two decades after the war to end all wars ended.
Dorie's latest engagement involves tailing Iris Jackson to see if she is cheating on her boyfriend. She follows Iris for a week only to observe her target commit suicide by jumping off the Hannibal Bridge. Stunned by the event, the case continues when her client hires Dorrie to conduct a thorough investigation of Iris' life. However, a twist occurs when the police charge her mentor Amos with murder, leaving it to Dorrie to find out who set them up so smoothly.
Lise McClendon, author of the Thorssen mysteries, shows how versatile her talent is with a new series set in 1939 that uses period idioms and vernacular to set the tone. This technique along with historical references provides a glimpse at the atmosphere of the era just before America's entry into World War II. The complex, cleverly crafted mystery keeps reader's attention throughout the novel. Dorie is hard-boiled on the outside yet tender on the inside, as she has risen above some tough breaks in her life. Ms. McClendon has started a new winning series that will please historical mystery fans.
Harriet Klausner
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Girl with the Switchblade
17 Jun 2002
By Edward P. Zaruk
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
Travel back in time to a simpler life when escape from poverty was part of the American dream. That road to success sometimes took a drastic fall, in the case of Iris Jackson, it is off the Hannibal bridge.
For P.I. Dorie Lennox, the investigation becomes personal when she is threatened and told to quit the case. As she continues digging for answers, more people enter her investigation, each creating questions that need answers. Answers that always seem to come with pain. Quite often to Lennox's body.
Lise McClendon has captured the flavour of prewar Kansas City and blended it with exciting intrigue that carries us along to its emotion-filled conclusion.
This book becomes a splendid page turner as the mystery deepens. It is really quite a decent read.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Lennox is Tough, Tender and Terrific
14 Sep 2002
By Carol Abbott
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
I have lived in Kansas City nearly all my life, so I loved the fact that Lise McClendon's gritty private eye Dorie Lennox has taken up her profession in a rough and tumble 1939 K.C. that I had only heard whispered about. In 1939, The Mob was learning about how to fleece the citizens in other ways after prohibition; the average citizen was scrambling to live on slim wages and a glimmer of hope after the big depression; gambling and race tracks were legal, leaving the cops to find other ways to hassle the citizens, both crooked and law-abiding.
While tailing a beautiful blonde, Lennox witnesses the girl's suicide by jumping from a bridge into the Missouri River. The death of this woman, the girlfriend of a client who doesn't seem all that broken up when he hears of her death, puts Lennox onto a mystery that includes missing money, corrupt lawyers, murdered witnesses, infidelity and double crosses.
While tailing a beautiful blonde, Lennox witnesses the girl's suicide by jumping from a bridge into the Missouri River. The death of this woman, the girlfriend of a client who doesn't seem all that broken up when he hears of her death, puts Lennox onto a mystery that includes missing money, corrupt lawyers, murdered witnesses, infidelity and double crosses.
Lennox has to mix it up with some mighty shady characters, some of whom definitely do not treat her like a lady, but slowly she digs up the secrets in a desperate attempt to save the life of her mentor and partner, who has been fitted for a frame by some very cleaver, devious crooks.
There is a definite film noir feel about this book, and I really enjoyed it. I'd like to see other books about Dorie Lennox. She is a really cool character.
›
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3.9 out of 5 stars
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