Noir

January 8, 2018
Bestseller Moore (Secondhand Souls) spoofs hard-boiled detective fiction in this irreverent send-up set in 1947 San Francisco. One evening, a dame named Stilton, who has “the kind of legs that kept her butt from resting on her shoes,” walks into Sal’s Saloon, where she meets bartender Sammy “Two-Toes” Tiffin. Sammy soon falls madly in love with Stilton, and then she disappears. Meanwhile, Sal Gabelli, the saloon’s proprietor, orders Sammy to provide a bevy of broads for an Air Force general in command of a base in Roswell, N.Mex., who needs the women for an event at the Bohemian Club camp in redwood country. Sammy’s subsequent discovery of Sal’s snake-bitten corpse in the stock room and the arrival of men in black suits wearing sunglasses complicate matters. From there, things just get stranger in this work that puts an amusing spin on the noir subgenre. An author’s note gives fair warning of the characters’ era-appropriate language and attitudes, which may be disturbing to some readers. Agent: Lisa Gallagher, DeFiore and Co.

February 15, 2018
A regular joe stirs up a whole pot of trouble when he meets a damsel in distress.Renowned satirist Moore (Secondhand Souls, 2015, etc.) offers up a soft-boiled take on the hard-boiled tradition personified by the likes of Dashiell Hammet and Raymond Chandler in this messy, comic mystery that often goes off the rails. The book does offer a fascinating setting in San Francisco circa 1947, a throwback to a city the author clearly knows and loves. Our palooka of a protagonist is Sammy "Two Toes" Tiffin, a partially lame grifter who tends bar at Sal's Saloon between various schemes. Sammy gets more than he bargained for when a spectacular blonde "tasty bit of trouble" named Stilton wanders into his joint. Before you know it, Sammy has the hots for "the Cheese," a jones that brings him all manner of trouble. The book employs no end of snappy dialogue straight out of a Jimmy Cagney movie, but the device can't save it from its meandering, distracted plot. In addition to the Cheese, we meet General Remy, a conspiring bureaucrat on leave from Roswell Army Air Field; "The Kid," a profane rug rat Sammy employs from time to time; Eddie Moo Shoes, Sammy's entree into Chinatown's underworld; Lone Jones, a good-natured boxer who insists he's not black; a dirty cop named Pookie O'Hara; and an assorted mix of gangsters, cabbies, drag queens, and other denizens of San Francisco. Moore's introduction of an interrupting, semiomniscient second narrator between Sammy's first-person tale can be jarring, even if it is explained late in the book. The novel finally coalesces in its back half as Sammy invades a shady cabal called the Bohemian Club to rescue the Cheese, pretty much from herself, and they both get a surprise when they run across General Remy's secret, all while being chased by mysterious "men in black." What results is a kindred spirit to Richard Brautigan's Dreaming of Babylon: A Private Eye Novel 1942 (1977).A frantically comic tale of guys and dolls that shoots and just misses.

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Starred review from February 1, 2018
San Francisco, 1947. Bartender Sammy Tiffin falls head-over-heels in love with a beautiful girl named Stilton (like, she explains, the cheese). Sammy's boss, the revolting Sal Gabelli, is working on a special project for an Air Force muckety-muck that involves Sammy rounding up wholesome girls and hooking them up with members of the powerful Bohemian Club. Through no fault of Sammy's, Stiltonor, as Sammy affectionately calls her, the Cheesewinds up in serious danger, and Sammy is prepared to wreak whatever havoc is necessary to save her. That's the bare-bones story of Moore's weird and oddly hilarious new novel, which also features sunglasses-wearing government agents, a rogue black mamba snake, a helpful madam, and a mysterious object that fell out of the sky in a place called Roswell. This isn't just a spoof of the kind of noir that Thompson, Cain, and Goodis were writing in the 1940s and '50s; hiding behind those trappings is a pedal-to-the-metal, exquisitely written comic romp through a neon-lit San Francisco that may never have actually existed, but that, in Moore's supremely talented hands, sure feels like it could have. The scene in the diner, where the Cheese and her pal call out food orders, is by itself funny enough to have you snorting in public. So beware: you probably won't get through this one without making a fool of yourself.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

Starred review from January 1, 2018

"San Francisco, 1947. A dame walks into a bar...." When bartender Sammy "Two Toes" Tiffin first meets Stilton (like the cheese), a good-looking blonde with an attitude, he knows he's a goner. What he doesn't know is that his life is about to be completely turned upside down. Add an air force general from a nowhere base in Roswell, NM, who needs a favor, a crooked cop, a secret society, a missing black mamba snake, and two "tax men" in black suits and sunglasses, and Sammy more than has his hands full. When Stilton mysteriously vanishes, Sammy will have to put all of his considerable connections and street smarts to use if he wants to find her, figure out how the pieces of this seemingly incongruous puzzle fit together, and save the day. VERDICT Raymond Chandler meets the SyFy channel in Moore's latest humorous adventure. Fans of noir film and fiction will find a lot to enjoy in this loving genre tribute, and those already familiar with Moore's books will simply be in love. [See Prepub Alert, 10/2/17.]--Elisabeth Clark, West Florida P.L., Pensacola

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 15, 2017

A gorgeous blonde named Stilton. Sammy the bartender, who falls in love when she walks into his bar. Air force general Remy, who wants to take advantage of Sammy's streetwise connections. And a mysterious plane crash near Remy's Roswell, NM, base. There's a lot going on in 1947 San Francisco--and beyond. With a 200,000-copy first printing and a ten-city tour.

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2018

"San Francisco, 1947. A dame walks into a bar...." When bartender Sammy "Two Toes" Tiffin first meets Stilton (like the cheese), a good-looking blonde with an attitude, he knows he's a goner. What he doesn't know is that his life is about to be completely turned upside down. Add an air force general from a nowhere base in Roswell, NM, who needs a favor, a crooked cop, a secret society, a missing black mamba snake, and two "tax men" in black suits and sunglasses, and Sammy more than has his hands full. When Stilton mysteriously vanishes, Sammy will have to put all of his considerable connections and street smarts to use if he wants to find her, figure out how the pieces of this seemingly incongruous puzzle fit together, and save the day. VERDICT Raymond Chandler meets the SyFy channel in Moore's latest humorous adventure. Fans of noir film and fiction will find a lot to enjoy in this loving genre tribute, and those already familiar with Moore's books will simply be in love. [See Prepub Alert, 10/2/17.]--Elisabeth Clark, West Florida P.L., Pensacola

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.