Blue Lonesome (Beeler Large Print Series)

Rating:
Summary: Pretty good, not bad, can't complain
Review: I enjoyed the size (non-huge) & pace of this book, as well as the setting (the Nevada desert & ranch land, largely). But in a brief book, I suppose it's tough to have characters that don't seem one-dimensional. In this book, many of them do; after you've met them the first time, little else about them will come as a surprise. Still, the dialogue and descriptions are generally well done, and the progression of the main character from Grey Flannel Suit to His Own Man is interesting to watch. How WOULD somebody go about throwing their old life away for a new one, and what would bring that about? Fun questions, and this book explores them in an intriguing way.

For those who can relate to middle-aged-male angst and like to read mysteries, Peter Robinson's Inspector Banks books will probably be at least as enjoyable as Blue Lonesome.

Rating:
Summary: OH LONESOME BLUE
Review: Okay. Here's the set-up:
You are a lonely middle-aged CPA and you eat at the same places almost every day. You notice a sad looking woman, not a pretty one, mind you, just sad, and you identify with her because she is so obviously lonesome, just like our CPA.
You get the nerve up to try and speak with her, and it doesn't work. She doesn't tell you her name or anything about her. You follow her home one night and find out her name is Janet Mitchell. You are obsessed with why she's so lonely. Soon she stops coming to the restaurant and you're worried. You go visit her apartment complex and speak to the oriental landlady. She tells you that the lady is dead, committing suicide in her bathtub. Now, would you even imagine pursuing this any further? Well, James Messenger, our hero does.
Although I found the setup for this novel quite unbelievable, Pronzini manages to make it work with his wonderful prose and sense of characterizations. Needless to say, Messenger ends up in the lady's hometown of Beulah, Nevada, and finds out her real name, and learns that she had been accused of murdering her philandering husband AND her eight year old daughter. Messenger knows she didn't do it (how, you got me!). Soon, Messenger faces the expected town bullies and even the dead woman's sister. He takes a job on her ranch, and gets more and more involved with the lady and the townspeople.
The book is short, moves along well, and the ending is quite a surprise, at least to me.
It's not what I consider a great book, but if you can get past the ludicrous setup, you should enjoy it.
RECOMMENDED.

Rating:
Summary: Underrated Masterpiece
Review: This is a novel with the depth of Horton Footes classic "Tender Mercies," and although noir in tone it is not quite like anything else Pronzini has written. A wonderfully understated novel written by an author at the height of his powers.