Generally, I'm not a reader of mystery / crime dramas, but I was drawn to read PARTNERS IN CRIME 2: I'LL BE DEAD FOR CHRISTMAS because I had heard that Josh Lanyon's Snowball in Hell was reminiscent of the 1940s film noir detective dramas that I so dearly love. And I'm glad I did.

For Lanyon's contribution in this pair of Christmas-themed murder mysteries, the setting is 1943 Los Angeles. The body of the son of a wealthy oil baron is discovered dumped in the Brea tar pits and Lt. Mathew Spain is assigned the case. Reporter Nathan Doyle is doing investigative reporting and the story follows their separate investigations, their collaborations, and yes, even their romantic involvement together. It does no service to a murder mystery to outline the plot, so I'll only say that Lanyon's skill as a writer keeps you guessing while all the leads are investigated. The mystery structure is solid and I couldn't detect any holes in the plot. Lanyon does a superb job of recreating the noir atmosphere reminiscent of detectives Philip Marlow and Sam Spade. I'll admit I haven't read the works of Hammet or Chandler to know how this compares to them, but I know the movies and I believe Bogie and Bacall would have felt right at home in Snowball in Hell.

Sarah Black's Death of a Blues Angel was quite good as well. I wouldn't exactly classify it as a mystery (you'd have to read it to see why.) In 1966, half African-American / half Cherokee Deacon Davis is a reporter assigned to do a story at a DC Blues club about three legendary Blues musicians who have introduced a new white kid into their act. By co-incidence a murder has just occurred at the club and Deacon's assignment to write a feel-good Christmas story about black and white working together gets sidetracked into an investigation about the killing, not to mention Deacons's romantic entanglement with the young white musician. As I said, the story is less of a mystery and more of an observation about race relations, the horrors of the Klan, prejudice against a white musician by the Blues community, as well as the double dangers of both an interracial and homosexual relationship in that era.

Both stories are very worthwhile reads, a nice double-feature with Snowball in Hell being the "A" picture, so to speak. ( )