Wed 16 Oct 2024
A PI Mystery Review by Tony Baer: CHARLES ALVERSON – Not Sleeping, Just Dead.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[4] Comments
CHARLES ALVERSON – Not Sleeping, Just Dead. Joe Goodey #2. Houghton Mifflin, hardcover, 1977. Playboy Press, paperback, 1980.
Joe Goodey, private eye. Former cop. Fired for shooting the wrong guy, the mayor’s nephew, or some such.
He gets hired by some gramps. Gramps wants to know what happened to granddaughter.
Granddaughter, a beauty, a druggie, leapt, or fell, or was pushed off a high tower of a Monterey mansion. A cult lives there. ‘The Institute’. Of which she was a member. A very wealthy member, bequeathing a considerable sum upon them.
Gramps wants to know who at the Institute killed her. Because if he can prove the Institute killed her, the money goes to him.
So Goodey heads to the Institute. Hangs around. Insults everybody with his hardboiled repartee and scabrous wit. And solves the case.
Decent 70’s PI yarn, with California vibes. Recommended.
October 16th, 2024 at 11:48 pm
Charles Alverson had quite a career. His Wiki page is here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Alverson
There was one earlier Joe Goodey book, that being Goodey’s Last Stand (1975). To my everlasting regret, there were only the two. Both solidly in the Raymond Chandler vein.
October 17th, 2024 at 5:43 pm
Nothing special, but they felt like they might develop into something special given time they didn’t get.
November 2nd, 2024 at 11:05 am
A previous MYSTERY*FILE review: https://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=37850
November 2nd, 2024 at 8:23 pm
Thanks, Bill. I knew I’d read and probably reviewed it, but for some reason I couldn’t find it here on the blog. You’re better at this than I am!