Just finished a re-read of George Pelecanos’s Hell to Pay, second in the Derek Strange and Terry Quinn detective novels. There is a lot to like in the series. These aren’t stock characters and they don’t set in stereotypical situations. Washington D.C. is the setting, specifically the fractured urban center beyond the capitol which seems very far away. Drugs, crime and racism has hardened like black-tar and is pervasive, but this is not a bleak series by any means. There is much humor and the sort of good-natured ribbing that happens any time guys meet up.
As to the mystery, this is a why-dunnit more than a who-dunnit. The protagonists will solve the crime (a drive-by shooting of a small boy) eventually, but as all good mysteries there is also an internal path that both characters are on that makes the crime and its after-math much more gripping to follow.
It’s a very moving, very personal work, great if you love pop-culture, soul-music, and the rhythms and cadences of real people talking in real situations. I love Strange, one of the best African-American private eyes around, and Janine is a more well-rounded Velma to Strange’s Mike Hammer. Quinn on the other hand? He’s still an enigma. Time to read some Pelecanos to see if he fleshes him out some more.
Enjoying my trip through crime fiction again, I must say.
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