3.0 out of 5 stars
Solid,second string P I yarn, September 16, 2002
This review is from: Blood Stone: A Jacob Lomax Mystery (Hardcover)
Blood Stone is the second book in Michael Allegretto's now abandoned series about Denver P I Jacob Lomax.It helps if you have read the series opener Death on the Rocks but even without having done so there is much enjoyment to be derived from the book which stands up well in its own right.
Lomax is approached by a fellow investigator,the down at heels Fontaine,who some 20 years earlier was chief investigator for an insurance company that took a bath when five million dollars worth of antique jewellery were stolen,and he was unable to trace the jewels.Fired by the company he has spiralled down in the world but insists to Lomax that he knows how to locate the jewels and asks for assistance which is not forthcoming.Fontaine is then murdered and Lomax assaulted and his office turned over.
The man thought to have masterminded the robbery,Soames,is released from prison and Lomax takes on the job of locating a man named Meachum who has threatened to kill Soames blaming him for the death of his brother, His client is Helen,a friend of Soames and he soons falls head over heels for her
Matters get complicated when Meacham is shot dead and Lomax is set up on a murder charge by Lieutenant Dalrymple who scarcely troubles to conceal his loathing for Lomax
Before the case is resolved Lomax is shot at ,assaulted,left to rot in an abandoned mine shaft in the mountains ,and finds out the perfidious ways of the women in the case.There are run ins with murderous native Americans,the Two Hawks clan,and shoot outs aplenty to keep the plot churning over nicely
It is a very traditional PI tale and Lomax himself is akin to characters like Marlowe,Walker and Archer .He is an ex-cop,a widower,with the ability to deliver snappy one liners and well able to take care of himself in a tight corner
The book breaks no new ground but traditional ingredients are assembled with enough smoothness to let us know why the series gleaned an Edgar on original publication
Private eye novel readers are urged to track down the book and others by Allegretto,which remind us that even below the very top of the genre tree there is still alot of good material awaiting rediscovery.
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