Tue 17 May 2011
Archived Review: BRAD SOLOMON – The Open Shadow.
Posted by Steve under Authors , Bibliographies, Lists & Checklists , Reviews[4] Comments
BRAD SOLOMON – The Open Shadow. Summit Books, hardcover, 1978. Avon, paperback, 1980.
The private eye team of Thieringer and McGuane is as quietly competent as they come, most of the time. The only difference is that while Thieringer’s name is Fritz, McGuane’s is Maggie. They’re also both as tough as they come, so how’s anyone going to convince her that detective work is no job for a lady, if no one has by now?
Besides having to convince a reluctant client to hire them to protect himself from a kid with threats and a gun, Thieringer finds himself nursing along a youthful new assistant who may or may not work out. It’s a rough business.
As a specimen of the hard-boiled school, this is closer to Hammett than Chandler, the added plus being some refreshing humor that stays just this side of parody. Promising.
Bibliographic Comments: In spite of the promise I saw in the Thieringer and McGuane team-up, there never was a followup case for the PI twosome. Brad Solomon, in fact, wrote only three detective or crime fiction novels in the late 1970s, then seemingly disappeared from our field for good. From the Revised Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin:
SOLOMON, (Neal) BRAD(ley).
The Gone Man (n.) Random 1977.
The Open Shadow (n.) Summit 1978.
Jake & Katie (n.) Dial 1979.
The hero of record in The Gone Man was Charlie Quinlan, an actor who turns to PI work to make a living. Bill Crider reviewed the book here on his blog, where there’s also a link to Ed Gorman’s blog, where Dick Lochte posted a list of his “Top 20 PI Novels,” which includes The Open Shadow. The company’s not bad there, either, what with Chandler, Hammett, Macdonald, Parker, Ellin and Estleman among the competition.
Bill also reviewed Shadow on his blog. Look for it here.
As for Jake & Katie, I don’t believe it did very well. There are only 10 copies offered for sale on ABE, for example, compared to 80 of The Gone Man and 60 of The Open Shadow. It’s described as a novel on the cover, but one seller calls it a “Hollywood mystery.” Yet another goes into considerable detail:
There is the briefest amount of biographical data on Brad Solomon in Contemporary Authors, and nothing to suggest why these three books were all there were.
May 18th, 2011 at 7:47 am
I remember seeing these books when they were first out and (naturally) assumed they were a series. Anyway, I ordered this one on your (and Bill’s) say so.
May 19th, 2011 at 8:05 am
Jeff
I’d like to think my say so could be trusted, most of the time, but Bill is never wrong. Well, not for as long as I’ve known him, some 40 years or so.
— Steve
January 21st, 2015 at 11:54 am
Similar to this one, a great little No-Ca detective series from the 70s–one with humor as well as suspense–is from author Walter Walker. His titles are: ‘A Dime to Dance By’ and ‘The Two Dude Defense’. Touch of Chandler in these books, continuing on that tradition.
December 6th, 2019 at 4:17 pm
I remember reading both Open Shadow & The Gone Man.
Both were great reads & I only wish Brad Solomon had written more.
I hope that a publisher who enjoys reprinting forgotten mysteries like Mysteriouspress.com or Brash Books rediscovers these gems.