"Prisoner of Love," by James W. Ziskin, in Get Up Offa That Thing: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of James Brown, edited by Gary Phillips, Down and Out Books, 2023.
This is the second story by Ziskin I have reviewed here.
Dialog is character. If fiction is told in first person, narrative is also character.
Though I cannot claim to be a handsome man, I, Nelson Blanchard am -- as it happens -- a rich one. Quite rich, in fact. And that state of affairs has long compensated for my lack of physical allure.
I think that piece tells you a lot more about Nelson than just his financial state and appearance. His personality rings through, doesn't it?
Nelson has been summoned to a hotel where a wife-swapping event has been going on. While annoyed that he was left out (does his personality have something to do with it?) he is being asked to solve the murder by strangulation of one of the participants.
Why him and not the police? Well, he is a doctor. And if they can solve the case before the cops arrive things will be a lot less messy.
And so Nelson interrogates the suspects, and falls in love and/or lust with at least one of them. A funny and clever story.
No comments:
Post a Comment