Wed 27 Oct 2010
Reviewed by Barry Gardner: NOREEN AYRES – The World the Color of Salt.
Posted by Steve under Bibliographies, Lists & Checklists , Characters , Reviews[2] Comments
NOREEN AYRES – The World the Color of Salt. “Smokey” Brandon #1. Avon, paperback reprint, 1993. First published by William Morrow, hardcover, 1992.
I bought this as much for the cover as anything — a blue and green composition that blends a mermaid-like naked body into a coastline. Strikingly attractive, and different. The title is from a poem by Richard Hugo, who wrote a mystery before his death.
Smokey Brandon is a forensic Specialist for the Orange County Sheriff/Coroner’s office. She’s been a stripper, and she’s been a cop, and she’s about half tough. Her troubles start when a 20 year old kid she knew casually is killed in the robbery of a stop and go store. Though she’s developed a protective shield to go with her job, this one gets to her.
She’s sort of in love with a married co-worker, and her best friend takes up with a guy with a record who was briefly a suspect in the killing. Things go from bad to worse on all fronts, and she finds herself hunting her friend while she continues to search for answers to the killing.
Ayres is an award-winning poet, and this is her first mystery novel. It’s a good one, and I don’t know how I missed it in 1992. Ayres gives Brandon a glib, hard voice entirely in keeping with her character, and she is one of the best realized new characters, male of female, that I’ve come across in a while in hardboiled fiction.
And this is hardboiled, make no mistake about that. The story is told in first person, and very effectively. Ayres has an eye for the California landscape and its denizens, and if the details of the forensic trade aren’t accurate, they’re done well enough to fool me.
The only fault I found was an occasional jerkiness as the story shifted from reflection to action, and that wasn’t often. Ayres is good.
The Smokey Brandon series —
A World the Color of Salt. Morrow, 1992.
Carcass Trade. Morrow, 1994.
The Juan Doe Murders. Five Star, 2000.
Editorial Comments: Once again I’m pleased to say that here online I can show you the cover that Barry was referring to, one he wasn’t able to in his printed zine. I think it lives up to his description of it, don’t you?
As for the book itself, based on Barry’s review, it’s a shame that there’s been only three books in the series, the third of which was news to me. For whatever reason, the series didn’t catch on. Or perhaps Noreen Ayres herself had other options available to her.
From her website: “Noreen Ayres has published novels, short stories, and poetry, and has had three teleplays produced, winning several awards for writing. Her varied career includes positions as a technical writer/editor and publications manager for major engineering, petroleum, and aerospace companies. Holding a Masters degree in English and post-grad certifications in business, she has taught composition, creative writing, business, and science.”
October 31st, 2010 at 9:02 am
I read this one after reading Barry’s review back at the end of 1993 and liked it as much as he did. But somehow, by the time the second one came out I had a hard time getting into the story and just gave up on it. I suppose I should go back and give it another try, but…I guess I’ve moved on since then.
Still, this one is definitely worth a try.
October 31st, 2010 at 1:09 pm
The sophomore jinx for authors (as well as baseball players) has been brought up for discussion on this blog before. Some writers may have only one good book in them, and for whatever reason, anything else they write is only ordinary.
One reaction such as yours, Jeff, doesn’t confirm that that’s what happened to Noreen Ayres — there are all kinds of other factors at work as well, including bad luck and/or bad timing — but if a copy of her first one comes along, I think I’ll take your advice (and Barry’s) and give it a go.