Cocaine and Blue Eyes [Paperback]

Fred Zackel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2006

Brennen got a thousand dollar bill in the mail, and all he had to do was find the blue-eyed California beauty who had slipped out of a cocaine dealer's bed . . . and neglected to slip back in again. But the dealer was already dead, and what was Brennen going to do with those big, blue eyes? "The American private eye story was in the Dumpster when Fred Zackel fished it out at the point of a gun. He revived the form, electrified readers and critics, and started the juggernaut that shoved aside the paperback romance to establish the mystery as the most popular category in the world. Finally, the generation that grew up since COCAINE AND BLUE EYES has the chance to meet Michael Brennan. An event like this ought to have a national holiday connected with it."¿Loren D. Estleman, author of NICOTINE KISS

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Fred Zackel's first novel reminds me of the young Dashiell Hammett's work, not because it is an imitation, but because it is not.  It is a powerful and original book made from the lives and language of the people who live in San Francisco today." -- Mystery novelist Ross Macdonald, author of SLEEPING BEAUTY and THE UNDERGROUND MAN.

"A spectrum of sex, aging flower children, mafia money, houseboat life in Sausalito, booze, barbiturates, bitterness, incest and greed ... as nerve-rattling as a full-throttle auto chase!" -- Time magazine.

"Zackel has a gritty street style that generates an undercurrent of tension." -- Publishers Weekly.

"The writing and atmosphere and characterization leave you waiting for the next Zackel." -- Portland Telegram.

"Zackel does a first-rate job of keeping the reader on the edge of his seat.  He manages this with page after page of quick dialogue ..." -- Best Sellers.

From the Author

Ross Macdonald spoke.
"Have you ever thought about doing something serious, like detective fiction?"
I said, "No." In a panic, I said, "I don't know how."
He said, "I will help you."
Over the next few years I had Ross Macdonald as my mentor.
We swapped letters back and forth -- "Although," he wrote once, "you shouldn't spend writing like that on a letter. Save everything for the book, especially yourself."
When I could, I showed up at his house on Esperanza Street ("Street of Hope," in Spanish). Sometimes he knew I was coming and he was ready for me, and sometimes I came unannounced, too afraid of being turned down over the telephone, and so I would wake his wife and him up. He was always generous with his time.
He showed me his office, his shelves of books, and his notebooks, one for each novel, some that had been started decades before. He had stacks of notebooks, and each one was written in as meticulously as a bookkeeper's ledger. I couldn't imagine how he could begin with a single metaphor, and yet it would grow almost miraculously into a novel.
He had his leather recliner and the wooden board he used as a writing table. He would lay that board across the arms, and that chair was a transporter worthy of anything the Starship Enterprise ever carried. That chair carried him -- and all his readers -- to great adventures.
We went for long walks with his dogs on dry riverbeds, and I would ask him every question I could imagine. He was always generous with his answers.He said, "The detective isn't your main character, and neither is your villain. The main character is the corpse. The detective's job is to seek justice for the corpse. It's the corpse's story, first and foremost."
He said, "You don't need to describe your detective. He describes himself by the questions he asks and by how he reacts to other people's answers. Your readers will visualize him in their own minds."
My fears were the usual, although I never knew it.
I asked, "What do you do when everything you wrote is completely wrong?"
He said, "You start again."
He was always supportive. "This is very promising material," he wrote me once. "Guard it with your life. And give it a good, strong, not too complicated storyline."
And when my first book, Cocaine and Blue Eyes, was done, he read it and said, "You have written a large, good, contemporary novel with a style which seems to me very much your own, composed out of the daytime speech and nighttime visions of your characters."
Later, he wrote a blurb for Cocaine and Blue Eyes: "Fred Zackel's first novel reminds me of the young Dashiell Hammett's work, not because it is an imitation, but because it is not. It is a powerful and original book made from the lives and languages of the people who live in San Francisco today."
Well, that was unbelievable. Almost unthinkable. Hell, nobody could live up to that blurb, although I do know a dozen truly more deserving P.I. writers who should have had something like that attached to their names and reputations. But Ken was a sweetheart of a guy who went out of his way for me and transformed my image of myself.
He did more, and said more to me, and all of that is more personal than I wish to be here. But because of him, I wrote and published two novels. In both hardcover and paperback. In not only English, but also French and Spanish. My first novel was reviewed by Time magazine, and that became a special moment I still cherish. The book went to become a TV movie.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 264 pages
• Publisher: Point Blank (November 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0809562138
• ISBN-13: 978-0809562138
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,339,609 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Fred Zackel is a writer of fiction and non-fiction. Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, he spent many years in California.

Zackel was discovered by the award winning novelist Ross MacDonald at the Santa Barbara Writers Conference in 1975. MacDonald became a mentor and was influential in the direction of Zackel's fiction writing.

Zackel published his first novel, COCAINE AND BLUE EYES in 1978 and it was followed by CINDERELLA AFTER MIDNIGHT. Both novels feature his San Francisco private detective, Michael Brennen. In 1983 the TV movie Cocaine & Blue Eyes was aired on NBC.

His novel MURDER IN WAIKIKI was written after a delayed honeymoon to Hawaii. The very air and the landscape sparked a fascination with all things Hawaiiana for years after. The people and culture of Hawaii and the city of Honolulu hold a special place in his heart.

Created out of dreams and nightmares his collection of short stories include the thriller "The Bicycles Were Gravestones" and the violent robot science fiction "Creepier Than A Whorehouse Kiss".

Zackel is currently working on a novel of two generations haunted and nearly destroyed by a tragic family murder. Set during the sometimes violent upheaval of Cleveland's social and cultural changes of the 1950's and today, it is a story of revenge and redemption, of sacrifice and the salvation of familial love.

Frederick Zackel has published several non-fiction articles and reviews in academic and internet journals. Beginning with his PhD dissertation, Zackel has written extensively about the effect of geography, art and religion, and the stories we tell on civilizations. These "great ideas" are the subject of a trilogy he is writing.

A fan of mysteries, he recently attended the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention in Indianapolis, IN. He is a member of Private Eye Writers of America and has been a judge in several categories for the Shamus award.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Must-read for noir fans, March 24, 2011

By 

Ann S. "born critic" (Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cocaine and Blue Eyes (Paperback)

Fred Zackel's Cocaine and Blue Eyes harks back to the tales of the old-time hard-boiled detectives such as Chandler's Philip Marlowe and Dashiell Hammett's Continental Op.
Michael Brennan is a little different. He doesn't want to be a private investigator any more. When his license expires, it won't be renewed.
But an old business card found in his car by an unwanted passenger sets him up. He finds himself sucked into a web of intrigue, deceit, murder and mayhem.
Dark and dirty, full of secrets and lies, twisted every way possible, nobody wins by the time Brennan tracks down the girl with the big blue eyes.
The story is engrossing, full of rich detail. The book has much to recommend it but perhaps the quality of the writing is at the top. Anyone who appreciates well-written prose will be happy with this noir novel. It's a must for fans of noir fiction.