Shadow Roll: A Sam Russo Mystery (2013) - Plot & Excerpts
This is the first in a new series of noir Private Eye cases centered on Sam Russo, a kid from a horror of a Staten Island orphanage right after the Second World War. The mysteries are mysterious (I didn't figure out one of them - so far), the lead is funny and whimsical and self-deprecating whose hero is Bogie up there on the Silver Screen. Over the course of his first mystery he acquires two sidekicks, both of whom could star in books of their own. A TV series of Sam ought be in the making. If nothing else, there must be more Russo and Jane and Mrs. Willingford. I'd do anything for Mrs. Willingford. I've found a new detective noir hero. Sam is slick and witty. Stuck on Staten Island, longing for Manhattan. He can see the lights from his one room without bath. He wants to be Bogart when Bogart's up on the screen playing Sam Spade or Philip Marlowe. But he's not. Under his hardboil is a soft center. I love the drinking and the smoking without thinking twice about it. I love wearing a hat and a trenchcoat. I love walking the unique streets with the unique Sam Russo, Private Eye. I'm reading the second book now, "Good Dog, Bad Dog". It's as good as the first one. No, it's better because now he has Jane. You're going to love Jane. I hope Longfellow keeps writing these books. I'm hooked.
What do You think about Shadow Roll: A Sam Russo Mystery (2013)?
Longfellow writes books that are not only great books, they'd make terrific movies.
—ILoveMegCabot
