When Gil Yates P.I. gets a message from a dying man, the illegitimate son of a prize fighting world champion looking for the answer to a twenty-five year old mystery, he is reluctant to jump into the ring. But with the prospect of new property to plant his beloved palms on, he decides to "throw in the doily" and head to Las Vegas to duke it out with some heavyweight gamblers. Champion Buddy Benson was the king of first round knockouts, so why did he suddenly refuse to answer the bell in a fight with a cocky young rookie thirty years ago? Some say he threw the fight and the subsequent rematch. They also say he couldn’t have died of "natural causes." When Yates steps on the toes of a mysterious opponent he is quickly escorted back to Los Angeles. His investigation leads him from country clubs to sanitariums, both of which find him circling the ring with some highly eccentric interviewees. Will Yates be able to knockout this mystery before his client’s round is over? They Fall Hard is the eighth exciting Gil Yates mystery by Alistair Boyle.
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Editorial Reviews
From Booklist
Gil Yates, nerdy gardening aficionado by day and suave but eccentric PI by night, meets up with an interesting cast of characters in the latest addition to this quirky series. Buddy Benson was once one of the best prizefighters of his time, and now, more than 30 years later, his illegitimate son, Richard Manley, who is himself dying of cancer, wants to resolve the mystery surrounding Buddy's last two fights and his suspicious death. The fact that Manley's funds are low doesn't stop the usually well-compensated Gil from taking the case, since he hopes to acquire as a contingency fee some property where his precious cycads could flourish. Investigating a 30-year-old death is never easy, let alone when it involves secretive Las Vegas cops, old Mob ties, and distinctly unfriendly members of the Nation of Islam. Boyle remains true to his peculiar form (think Carl Hiaasen in Southern California); in fact, the banter is so much fun one wishes Boyle would give Gil another 100 pages or so per outing. Mary Frances Wilkens
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
About the Author
Alistair Boyle is the author of the critically acclaimed Gil Yates Private Investigator Novels, The Unholy Ghost (2002), What Now, King Lear? (2001), Ship Shapely (1999), Bluebeard’s Last Stand (1998), The Unlucky Seven (1997), The Con (1996), and The Missing Link (1995). He currently lives in suburban Los Angeles.
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Fictional look at the Cassius Clay(Ali) Sunny Liston fights,
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This review is from: They Fall Hard: A Gil Yates Private Investigator Novel (Hardcover)
Gardener, real estate professional and part-time private detective Gil Yates gets a call from a dying man. Richard Manley's father had once been heavyweight champion of the world--but he lost two controversial fights and later died at only 38--of natural causes according to the Las Vegas police department. Manley wants Yates to investigate the fights (did his father throw them) and the death (was it murder). Although the case is stone-cold, Yates accepts--in exchange for the dying man's apartment buildings, which will give him the space he needs to plant palm trees.
Yates tracks down the hot contender who beat the champ, the champ's ex-wife, his gambling associates and his trainer. None of the champ's camp believes Buddy Benson could possibly have lost to the young contender--and there's a lot of doubt about Buddy's refusing to answer the bell in the first fight, and possibly taking a dive in the second. As for the murder, there are plenty of possibilities. The police always look at the wife--and Buddy was not the most faithful husband. Then there are his mob connections. Finally, there are the Black Muslems who threatened him. Author Alistair Boyle (see more BooksForABuck.com reviews of mysteries by Boyle) changes the names of his characters, but obviously draws from the controversial title fights between Sonny Liston and Cassius Clay/Mohammed Ali. Liston was the heavy favorite in both fights--and was a tough man with a rock-crushing punch. Although Ali became one of the greatest fighters ever, he was not yet at his peak. To me, much of THEY FALL HARD reads like a fan's attempt to make sense out of these strange title fights. Why did Liston fail to answer the bell--he'd fought seven rounds with a broken jaw in a previous bout, so he was no wimp? Is Boyle's proposed solution what actually happened? I don't know. Gil Yates makes an interesting character. He's smug, condescending to his wife (whom he calls Tyranus Rex) and his father-in-law who employes him although Yates blows him off and does no apparent work (and then complains that his father-in-law never leaves his chair). On the other hand, he goes out of his way to mend fences between Abu Hambali (Mohammed Ali) and Abu's boxer-daughter. Frankly, I didn't like him but that's probably a matter of personal taste. THEY FALL HARD reads like an old-fashioned detective mystery. There isn't the violence so common in modern mysteries, although the threat of violence is always present. I would have liked to see a more dramatic wrap-up to the mystery--as it was, I really had the sense that Yates's solution made sense but, even in the story context, wasn't a slam-dunk.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Story,
By Athalia Stoneback (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
This review is from: They Fall Hard: A Gil Yates Private Investigator Novel (Hardcover)
Anyone who is an avid fan of mysteries and/or boxing will thoroughly enjoy Alistair Boyle's They Fall Hard. The story keeps the reader riveted to his/her seat until he/she finds out the solution to the mystery. The main character's search for the truth and love for plants is charming, and his "customized clichés" (8) are adorable. Best suited for people approximately high-school aged and older.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A hard-boiled detective story set in Las Vegas,
By Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: They Fall Hard: A Gil Yates Private Investigator Novel (Hardcover)
They Fall Hard: A Gil Yates Private Investigator Novel is hard-boiled detective story set in Las Vegas. A mystery surrounding why a champion heavyweight king of first-round knockouts threw his fight with a rookie, and his untimely death at age thirty-eight become a reopened case in Yates' lap. His client, the champion's son, arranges a creative alternative to cash for payment, and Yates is on the case - from visiting country clubs to the incurring the ill will of the Nation of Islam, to face-to-face confrontations with short-tempered sluggers. The excitement runs hot and brawling in this thrilling mystery where keeping one's guard up is just as important as watching one's back.
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