THE ARMCHAIR REVIEWER
Allen J. Hubin


DAVID M. PIERCE

DAVID M PIERCE – Down in the Valley. Penguin, paperback original, 1989.

   David M Pierce, a Canadian with a colorful background (songwriter, co-author of a musical and a cookbook, Shakespearean actor, and poet, most of this in England), arrives on our scene with Down in the Valley. This offers us V. (for Victor) Daniel, 6′ 7-1/4″, ex-con, wearer of Hawaiian shirts loud enough to wake the dead, and private investigator in the San Fernando Valley of LaLaLand.

   Here Daniel has a variety of cases in process, of which the most noticeable (and, apparently, most deadly) has to do with a local high school in which unlawful chemicals flourish.

   Pierce has the PI patter down very nicely, keeps the plot well aboil, peoples it colorfully (to say the least), and entertained me exceedingly well. I could do with more of these, and in fact two more Daniel capers are in print, shortly to be sampled by me.

— Reprinted from The MYSTERY FANcier,
       Vol. 12, No. 4, Fall 1990.


    The Vic Daniel series —

Down in the Valley. Penguin 1989.
Hear the Wind Blow, Dear. Penguin 1990.
Roses Love Sunshine. Penguin 1990.

DAVID M. PIERCE

Angels in Heaven. Scribner, UK, 1991. Mysterious Press, US, 1992.

DAVID M. PIERCE

Write Me a Letter. Scribner, UK, 1992. Mysterious Press, 1993.

DAVID M. PIERCE

As She Rides By. St.Martin’s 1996.