Review: “Death and the Dancing Shadows” by James Reasoner

 

“Death and the  Dancing Shadows” by James Reasoner in The Black Lizard  Anthology of Crime Fiction, 1987   “Death and the Dancing Shadows”—which was originally published in the March 1980 issue of Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine (MSMM)—is an atmospheric and clever novelette featuring West Hollywood private eye, Markham. Retired B-Western movie star, Eliot “Lucky” Tremaine, summons Markham to help him with a “delicate” matter. When Markham arrives at Lucky’s sprawling ranch house, he finds the old actor screening one of his own films. It feels like Norma Desmond drowning herself in her own past in Billy Wilder’s 1950 film, Sunset Boulevard, but (as Tremaine explains) it’s not about vanity but rather a desire to see Hollywood, and by extension the world, the way it once was: “Good, clean, excitin’ stories with a hero and without all this trashy stuff they put in today.” And for all that, Tremaine seems well adjusted, if perhaps too nostalgic for his glory days and maybe a little too keen about his sense of honor and morality, and so Markham readily agrees to help him. We’ll keep Tremaine’s problem on the QT so it will be a surprise when you read the story. What Markham’s investigation uncovers will test Tremaine’s sense of morality in a close and personal way. It will test Markham’s, too… “Death and the Dancing Shadows” is a nifty hardboiled tale with a Raymond Chandler vibe—sharp dialogue, twisty plotting, and heaps of irony—that is as easy to read as it is appealing. And the ending is pitch perfect with an almost noir reflection broken only by Markham’s stolid refusal to succumb to his baser instincts. Maybe not quite as good as Reasoner’s Cody stories, but still pretty damn good.

Go here for the Kindle version of “Death and the Dancing Shadows” at Amazon.

Five Markham stories were published between 1979 and 1982: “All the Way Home” [April 1979, MSMM) “Death and the Dancing Shadows” [March 1980, MSMM] “The Man in the Moon” [April 1980, MSMM] “The Double Edge” [Summer 1981, Skullduggery] “War Games” [April 1982, MSMM] Three, including “Death and the Dancing Shadows,” have been released in Kindle, which you can see here.