Voodoo, Ltd.

Rating:
Summary: Thomas outdoes Thomas
Review: Apart from the fun of another Artie Wu and Quincy Durant adventure, this book provides the additional pleasure of uniting them with some of the more memorable charcaters from other Thomas novels. Georgia Blue, former government agent turned killer provides a special tension for Durant in this novel, and con man Maurice "Otherguy" Overby (It wasn't me - it must have been some otherguy who looked like me) brings his own just outside the law talents to bear.

The plot seems a little extreme, even for Thomas whose plots can twist like you wouldn't believe, but he always seems to exaggerate a bit when he is dealing with either California and/or the entertainment industry. Still, the book moves at such a pace and the dialogue and one-liners come so thick and fast that one doesn't have time to fret about how likely some of the convolutions are. This is high speed, fun, great reading.

Rating:
Summary: "Out on the Rim" Crew Back in Action
Review: Ross Thomas, the author of a long series of mystery/thrillers, reunites the shady team of Artie Wu and Quincy Durant in "Voodoo Ltd." Also returning from "Out on the Rim" are Georgia Blue, cashiered Secret Service agent, Booth Stallings, terrorism expert (and sometime Georgia Blue paramour) and the timeless Otherguy Overby. This novel sets up the team a bit differently from Out on the Rim, in which they straight-forwardly set out to "liberate" US$5 million of other people's money. In Voodoo, they are commissioned by a rich German who runs a rather sophisticated version of an employment agency, to track down two missing brother/sister hypnotists and figure out who really shot the billionaire boyfriend/fiancee of a Hollywood actress. As with most Thomas novels, the characters and their interplay are what carries this story. Each is a distinct personality playing the game by their own rules as they see fit, and sometimes it's difficult to figure out which side each is on. This is another fine Ross Thomas effort - I only wish he had lived long enough to write a 3rd Wu/Durant novel (as he was able to with Padillo and McCorkle).

Rating:
Summary: Convoluted, but in a good way.
Review: The book's title, Voodoo, Ltd., derives from a mispronounciation of Wudu, Ltd., a London based detective agency run by two Americans, Artie Wu and Quincy Durant.
Early in the course of this smartly written dark comedy, a wealthy German businessman with the improbable name of Enno Glimm hires Wu and Durant to locate a pair of British hypnotists who have suddenly gone missing in Southern California. Glimm suspects that the hypnotists are about to blackmail Ione Gamble, a Hollywood actress-director, who has been charged with murdering her ex-fiance. Which is to say that Voodoo, Ltd. is the granddaddy of all shaggy dog stories. And what an entertaining one it is!
Before descending onto the Los Angeles scene, Wu and Durant hire three former colleagues to assist them. They are; Booth Stallings a 65 year old counterterrorism expert, Georgia Blue, a statuesque former Secret Service agent who has spent the last five years in a Manila prison, and Maurice Otherguy Overby, an adventurer with dubious ethical standards. Together, these five very colorful and supremely resourceful characters use every trick in the book to solve the mystery while at the same time making sure that one or more of them doesn't double cross the others.
This is a deliciously witty, irreverent novel. Believable? Not for a minute. It's not meant to be.
It is meant to be a hilariously funny, over the top, comedic novel. And by that standard, it is an overwhelming success. Read Voodoo, Ltd., you'll love it.

Rating:
Summary: Well Worth Reading
Review: This is the second book in a series with the same cast of leading characters. Artie Wu and Quincy Durant are still teamed up as a pair of detectives. Booth Stallings has joined Otherguy Overby to form Overby, Stallings Associates, a consulting firm. The plot centers around the murder of a Hollywood producer and subsequent attempts to blackmail film star Ione Gamble. Wu and Durant are hired by Gamble's rep to help on solving her problems. They, in turn, hire Overby, Stallings and Georgia Blue. All are survivors from OUT ON THE RIM. Five years have passed and Georgia has just been released from a Manila prison. The others have made a bundle of money and then lost it in the interim. Now they are hungry for work again. This book is well worth reading.