Wings in the Dark: A Jake & Laura Mystery
By: Michael Murphy
Rating: 5 of 5
“Wings in the Dark” is like a visit back to the old Hollywood version of the 1930’s where men were the tough and silent types who could take it on the chin and the women were good hearted dames who knew their way around an investigation or two.
Jake Donovan is a mystery writer (though previously a Pinkerton detective and a former police detective.) He and his newly married wife, Laura Wilson, are on their honeymoon in Hawaii. Laura is an up-and-coming actress who has a big fan base and, fortunately or not, the two of them keep running into those fans throughout the story.
There is a murder (of course) and Jake is pretty well strong-armed into assisting though he and his wife have agreed to a no work honeymoon. The case involves Amelia Earhart and her publisher husband, George Putnam. Amelia is a good friend of Laura’s and she may be at risk, so Laura gives the okay to Jake’s investigation.
The book is set in 1935. The country is still deep in the depression and many are still out of work. Germany and Japan are busy setting up their empires and the world is beginning to feel a bit threatened by them.
It is an interesting time in Hawaii. It hasn’t been too long since the monarchy was overthrown and the US took possession of the island. There are still a good number of royalists who long for and who are willing to work for a return to the old days.
The vernacular of the dialog is tinged with the tough guy slang of a Sam Spade or Mike Hammer. I kept hearing and seeing Jake as a youngish Humphrey Bogart. In addition, visions of “The Thin Man” kept running through my head as well as any number of other great movies from and about the era. The author was able to keep my head in the time zone without question and kept my interest piqued throughout.
The solution made sense and there were definitely clues left in place in order to figure it out. While I was able to figure out the “whodunnit” about a two-thirds of the way through the book, I enjoyed reading the how the characters figured it out as well and really appreciated an unexpected twist at the end.
There was the addition of a number of famous and infamous figures of the time. While their actions were fiction, the author did keep them properly in their real life character of the time, so I could appreciate their addition. That seems to perhaps be a mainstay of this series as there are number of references to famous individuals which seem to refer to the prior books in the series.
This is the first book by Michael Murphy that I have read; however, it is the third in the series. It can easily be read stand-alone but there are a couple of references in text that might be considered “spoilers” for anyone who might want to go back and read the first two books in the series. I really enjoyed the book and certainly plan to go back and read the two earlier works. I also hope to read more in this series in future works, too.
I received a digital ARC copy of this book from the publisher, Alibi (Random House LLC), via Netgalley.
“Wings in the Dark” is like a visit back to the old Hollywood version of the 1930’s where men were the tough and silent types who could take it on the chin and the women were good hearted dames who knew their way around an investigation or two.