Blue Lonesome [Paperback]

Bill Pronzini (Author)

Book Description

Series: Walker Mystery | Publication Date: June 1, 1999

Jim Messenger is a CPA who hates his job, loves jazz, and can't forget a woman he has seen eating at the Harmony Café. She goes by the name of Janet Mitchell, and when he introduces himself, her only comment is, "It won't do you any good." When she commits suicide, Messenger is driven to find out why. Her name is only the first of the lies he uncovers. In "historic Beulah," Nevada, secrets coil like rattlesnakes ready to strike, and suffering lies like a suffocating blanket over lives put on hold. Starting with one slender clue, Messenger embarks on a search for the truth that becomes a rite of passage. By the end, lives have been changed, a horrible murder brought to light, and a quiet, little town irrevocably torn apart.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this top-notch thriller, the author of the Nameless Detective series combines the best elements of the psychological novel and the traditional whodunit and delivers them in classic noir tones. This hero has a name, Jim Messenger. He's a quiet, lonely CPA who becomes obsessed with an even lonelier woman he sees in the San Francisco neighborhood cafe where they both eat their solitary dinners. When "Ms. Lonesome," as he calls her, commits suicide, Messenger seeks to learn her real identity and the cause of her fatal melancholy. The search leads him to the small Nevada town of Beulah, where the locals fear his questions about two past killings and urge him, sometimes violently, to get out. The dead woman's sister, Dacy, overcomes initial skepticism about Messenger, turning her local knowledge and feisty resourcefulness to his advantage. With her help, the quiet accountant finds courage to unearth the secret of Ms. Lonesome's tragedy. Pronzini is masterful here, as he uses both the stark desert setting and knowledgeable digressions about jazz to evoke the loneliness at the heart of the tale.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Two quotes that connect hell, the devil, and loneliness foreshadow the suicide of a woman known as Ms. Lonesome. The often-solitary James Messenger sets out in search of the aloof woman's identity even though he spoke to her only once. He finds himself in Beulah, Nevada, a harsh countryside dominated by embittered people, violent murder, and mulish sensibilities. Pronzini skillfully handles Messenger's quest. He uses jazz to accompany changes in mood, but is not verbose. Highly recommended.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Walker & Company (June 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802775616
• ISBN-13: 978-0802775610
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #539,378 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars moody, enthralling psychological thriller, June 24, 1999

By 

Carl Brookins - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blue Lonesome (Paperback)

When an accomplished, experienced author tackles loneliness, frustration, chicanery and murder, you get something like Blue Lonesome. Jim Messenger is a lonely, bored San Francisco CPA, drifting through life. He observes a woman called Janet Mitchell at a cafe where he eats dinner every night. Messenger wonders about her and when she stops coming, he is idly moved to learn why. What Messenger discovers is that she has committed suicide.

Gradually, he becomes more and more obsessed with learning her story. His physical journey takes him several hundred miles east to the dried-up desert town of Beulah, Nevada. His emotional journey takes him much farther, and is not finished when the book ends.

Beulah is a town of simmering desires, dusty secrets and vicious attitudes. It is also a town peopled with good citizens. Part of Pronzini's strength is his ability to create a place and characters that are in everyone's sight. Beulah could be any town. It could be yours.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars OH LONESOME BLUE, February 12, 2003

By 

Michael Butts (Berkeley Springs, WV USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Blue Lonesome (Paperback)

Okay. Here's the set-up:
You are a lonely middle-aged CPA and you eat at the same places almost every day. You notice a sad looking woman, not a pretty one, mind you, just sad, and you identify with her because she is so obviously lonesome, just like our CPA.
You get the nerve up to try and speak with her, and it doesn't work. She doesn't tell you her name or anything about her. You follow her home one night and find out her name is Janet Mitchell. You are obsessed with why she's so lonely. Soon she stops coming to the restaurant and you're worried. You go visit her apartment complex and speak to the oriental landlady. She tells you that the lady is dead, committing suicide in her bathtub. Now, would you even imagine pursuing this any further? Well, James Messenger, our hero does.
Although I found the setup for this novel quite unbelievable, Pronzini manages to make it work with his wonderful prose and sense of characterizations. Needless to say, Messenger ends up in the lady's hometown of Beulah, Nevada, and finds out her real name, and learns that she had been accused of murdering her philandering husband AND her eight year old daughter. Messenger knows she didn't do it (how, you got me!). Soon, Messenger faces the expected town bullies and even the dead woman's sister. He takes a job on her ranch, and gets more and more involved with the lady and the townspeople.
The book is short, moves along well, and the ending is quite a surprise, at least to me.
It's not what I consider a great book, but if you can get past the ludicrous setup, you should enjoy it.
RECOMMENDED.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great moody novel with dark atmosphere, March 19, 2000

By 

"merch11" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blue Lonesome (Paperback)

A great mystery in which you'll never guess what's going on until the end. I'd actually give it 4 and 1/2 stars. Nice to see a protagonist who's just an ordinary schmuck rather than a FBI agent, corporate super-lawyer, or CIA hit-man. Easy to empathize and root for the main character. I finished it in two sittings.