The Devil's Garden
If I'm reading it right there's a thread running through Ace Atkins' new novel The Devil's Garden, a thread of pure enthusiam-a whizz bang, gee gosh 'can you believe I get to tell THIS story?' thread. And considering the story-Dashiell Hammett a Pinkerton in 1921 San Francisco investigating the Virginia Rappe/Fatty Arbuckle scandal (yeah, it's true!)-one can see why. How has this story not been told before?
On the shoulders of his two previous historical novels (White Shadow and Wicked City) Devil's Garden once again shows Atkins not just to have a keen eye for detail but also the gift of marrying it to a fast paced narrative with well drawn characters that leave way more impact than its premise might at first indicate, especially for those readers who grew up with the lurid Hollywood Babylon version of Arbuckle-the beast! the champagne bottle!
And Atkins' portrait of Hammett, called Sam here, a hardbitten lunger trying to support his young family while still staying true to his principles, is also finely honed when you consider how easy it would have been to overplay that hand. In fact, for my money the only misstep in the whole book is Daisy Simpkins, the white blonde federal dry agent with the smokin gams. I don't know, she may very well have been exactly as described but exchanges like the following smack more of what could have gone terribly wrong with this premise in lesser hands than reflect how good a job Atkins really does.
"Daisy raised her head and smiled at him. 'Aren't you going to kiss me or something?'
'Or something'"
So yes Ace, this one is truly worth a steak dinner. Hell, it's worth the whole damn cow.
********************************************************************************
After reading all the materials for Devils Garden (and some of the prepublication stuff for George Pelecanos' new novel as well) I'm feeling a bit like some of the crime writers I love best are distancing themselves (intentionally in Atkins' case-his first series of mysteries aren't even listed on his book flap anymore) from their first detectives. And yeah, I get that. These guys have honed their craft in public after all-any clumsiness, thin plots or the like have all been duly noted by us, their loyal readers. I know I'm damn glad that my first novel is in a drawer rather in print but can't help but have a soft spot for those guys-the Nick Stefanos, the Nick Travers. Their scrappy can do it yourself attitude are what attracted us to these authors in the first place. Even if they have moved way, way on (in the best possible way) can we not treat them with kindness? Perhaps we could have some sort of Justice League/Superfriend/Hall of Fame organization to showcase and highlight their contribution? I'm just sayin, I got a soft spot's all.
On the shoulders of his two previous historical novels (White Shadow and Wicked City) Devil's Garden once again shows Atkins not just to have a keen eye for detail but also the gift of marrying it to a fast paced narrative with well drawn characters that leave way more impact than its premise might at first indicate, especially for those readers who grew up with the lurid Hollywood Babylon version of Arbuckle-the beast! the champagne bottle!
And Atkins' portrait of Hammett, called Sam here, a hardbitten lunger trying to support his young family while still staying true to his principles, is also finely honed when you consider how easy it would have been to overplay that hand. In fact, for my money the only misstep in the whole book is Daisy Simpkins, the white blonde federal dry agent with the smokin gams. I don't know, she may very well have been exactly as described but exchanges like the following smack more of what could have gone terribly wrong with this premise in lesser hands than reflect how good a job Atkins really does.
"Daisy raised her head and smiled at him. 'Aren't you going to kiss me or something?'
'Or something'"
So yes Ace, this one is truly worth a steak dinner. Hell, it's worth the whole damn cow.
********************************************************************************
After reading all the materials for Devils Garden (and some of the prepublication stuff for George Pelecanos' new novel as well) I'm feeling a bit like some of the crime writers I love best are distancing themselves (intentionally in Atkins' case-his first series of mysteries aren't even listed on his book flap anymore) from their first detectives. And yeah, I get that. These guys have honed their craft in public after all-any clumsiness, thin plots or the like have all been duly noted by us, their loyal readers. I know I'm damn glad that my first novel is in a drawer rather in print but can't help but have a soft spot for those guys-the Nick Stefanos, the Nick Travers. Their scrappy can do it yourself attitude are what attracted us to these authors in the first place. Even if they have moved way, way on (in the best possible way) can we not treat them with kindness? Perhaps we could have some sort of Justice League/Superfriend/Hall of Fame organization to showcase and highlight their contribution? I'm just sayin, I got a soft spot's all.
posted by Sam @ 1:14 PM
2 Comments:
Thank you for this article. I look forward to reading this novel. May I also recommend I, FATTY, for those interested in the Arbuckle case (apologies for not remembering the author's name of the top of my head). But it is an excellent book telling the story from Arbuckle's point of view. Those who like historical fiction might want to check out my new novel, THE FUHRER VIRUS. It is a fictional WWII spy/conspiracy/thriller for adult readers that can be found at www.eloquentbooks.com/TheFuhrerVirus.html, www.amazon.com, and www.barnesandnoble.com.
Thanks!
Paul Schultz
Thanks for the recommendation Paul-I'll look for these books.
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