I finally found a break in my reading schedule to enjoy Bill
Pronzini's THE CRIMES OF JORDAN WISE. It's been discussed
here, I believe. Jordan Wise is a meek accountant with a San
Francisco building firm. He meets Annalise Bonner, a young,
gorgeous clerk working in women's lingerie. As in any classic
noir, Jordan falls for Annalise and concocts a slick scheme
to embezzle $600,000 and go live high off the hog in the
Caribbean Islands. This is in 1977.
Flash forward to the present. Jordan, 64, relates his
three
"perfect crimes" to John Talley, a freelance writer visiting
the islands in search of his next good story. Jordan
certainly tells one. You can't help but think Mr. Pronzini
might be the attentive Talley. CRIMES is drenched in setting,
too. Rum. Sailing. Sunsets. Ex-pats. Jordan's sailing pal,
Bone, is a full-fledged minor character who almost steals the
show.
If you want to see what the author does outside his customary
San Francisco locale, CRIMES shows he loses nothing. CRIMES
is a fast, absorbing read, and I liked it as much as reading
BLUE LONESOME, another one of Mr. Pronzini's
standalones.
Ed
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