Such a Killing Crime [Mass Market Paperback]

Robert Lopresti (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2005

SUCH A KILLING CRIME, a folk noir mystery featuring Joe Talley.

Greenwich Village, 1963: Hootenanny is a television hit, Bob Dylan and Joan Baez are young fresh faces, and a gifted folk singer has just been murdered in Joe Talley’s club, The Riding Beggar.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Joe Talley is the manager of the Riding Beggar, a folk-music joint in 1963 Greenwich Village. After work one night, Joe saves a friend of his, Seamus O'Hanlon, who is apparently being mugged, but as soon as he is out of the hospital, Seamus disappears. Shortly thereafter, after signing with a record company, Joe's good friend, folk-singer Dean Coffey, is murdered, his demo tapes stolen. Joe finds Dean's body and is hit on the head by the murderer, landing him in the hospital. After being released, Joe investigates, hoping to find Dean's tapes and allow his music to live on. Is Seamus' mugging connected with Dean's murder? Joe interviews his friends and colleagues, looking for the truth and antagonizing the police detective assigned to the case. An engaging first-person narration, an appealing love interest, fast pacing, and a well-drawn sense of time and place drive this satisfying mystery. Readers who enjoy the folk-music frame may also like the contemporary British folk-music tales of Deborah Grabien. Sue O'Brien
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

In the pre-Beatles sixties folk music was, briefly, king. Lopresti paints a loving portrait of those heady days. -- SJ Rozan, author of Absent Friends

Lopresti’s love of folk music shines. His tale is peppered with historic personalities of the folk music world. -- Jo Dereske, Miss Zukas mystery series

Spooky. If I'd known he was watching us all so carefully, I'd have behaved much better. -- Tom Paxton, folk singer/songwriter

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 262 pages
• Publisher: Kearney Street Books (August 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0972370633
• ISBN-13: 978-0972370639
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,329,413 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A note from the publisher, October 5, 2005

By 

Gary McKinney "Kearney Street Books" (Bellingham, Washington) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Such a Killing Crime (Mass Market Paperback)

Of course we love Rob's book. But we also wanted to make sure that everyone knew what Tom Paxton said about it: "Spooky. If I'd known he was watching us all so carefully, I'd have behaved much better." And we also wanted everyone to know that if they enjoyed the recent Dylan documentary by Scorsese, then you'll love this book! We knew Rob had done a great job incorporating the details of the era into the story, but as we were watching the first part of the show we were again reminded of how good a job he did. It was amazing how MUCH of what Scorsese focused on is also in Such a Killing Crime. --Gary McKinney & Karen Parker, Kearney Street Books

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Murder Most Folksy, October 16, 2005

By 

Kurt True (El Cerrito, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Such a Killing Crime (Mass Market Paperback)

If you could see my "Favorite Books" list for this year, or any year, you'd probably be surprised to learn how much I loved and adored Such A Killing Crime. That's because, for the most part, I'm a pretty hard core non-fiction reader.

About the only kind of fiction I read is the kind of historical fiction that an author grafts, with meticulous attention to detail, onto a specific time and place.

For me, that's a big part of the appeal of Such A Killing Crime. The story itself is a perfectly compelling whodunit, but, beyond that, Lopresti immerses you so thoroughly in his setting-- the Greenwich Village folk music scene of 1963-- that you feel like a detective magically transported to a long-vanished era of late night hootenannies and smoky coffeehouses filled with turtlenecked beatniks.

That elaborately fleshed-out setting, that was really half the fun of the book for me. I think I came away with a whole new appreciation for that whole improbable folk music renaissance that flourished so briefly, withered so suddenly and left its subtle but pervasive influence on our culture.

How pervasive? Let me tell you a little story. Must have been about 1971 I came home, and my Mom was sitting on the couch drinking Ripple out of a jelly jar and playing this Frank Sinatra song, "Love's Been Good to Me." She loved that song! Played it over and over.

First time I heard "Love's Been Good to Me," I thought to myself "Sounds like Frank's gone folk music on us, and he's taken the whole Nelson Riddle Orchestra with him!"

Decades later I learned that the lyrics of "Love's Been Good to Me" had been penned by poet and one-time Greenwich Village folkster Rod McKuen!

As it turns out that is only one of many macabre twists and turns in the history of American folk music. Makes you wonder why there haven't been more folk music murder mysteries. We can only hope that Lopresti writes a sequel.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Take note of review in Sing Out! magazine, February 26, 2006

By 

Mystery Fan (Washington State) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Such a Killing Crime (Mass Market Paperback)

Here are some excerpts from the review of Such a Killing Crime by Roger Deitz that appeared in the winter, 2006, edition of Sing Out! magazine: "Such a Killing Crime is a delight to read. The novel is a mixture of folk scene memorabilia juxtaposed with sharp, fast-paced mystery writing." And also: "Lopresti gives us a scenic tour of Greenwich Village as it was in 1963 adding a few of his own clever plot devices." And finally: "You'll enjoy the read and, I wager, be surprised when you get swept up in resolving the who-done-it."