Jon Spoelstra

A Thrilling Spy Mystery Neo-Pulp with Good History

In 1951, as the Brooklyn Dodgers race the New York Giants for the National League Pennant and their third try in five years to defeat their arch-nemeses the New York Yankees, Ebbets Field regular and private detective Jake McHenry receives a special case: His old neighborhood buddy Nick Salzano now works in the office of Sen. Joe McCarthy. Nick has told the Senator of Jake's experience in military intelligence after World War II, finding show more German Nazi spies to learn what they know about Soviet Communist spies, earning Jake the nickname "Red Chaser." Sen. McCarthy hires Jake to steal a list of celebrities who are supposed communists from redheaded seductress Arabella Van Dyck, aka the Ice Queen. This seemingly simple case - albeit one for a Senator - draws Jake and his assistant, a beautiful young Japanese woman named Hiromi Kitahara, into a web of politicians and spies, federal agents and mobsters, all against the backdrop of a baseball season for the history books.

I gave this book five stars not because Jon Spoelstra is the next Raymond Chandler. Too often, his historical notes - which are admittedly particularly interesting for those interested in Washington politics during the early Cold War, a post-war history of Brooklyn, or fans of baseball just before the Dodgers and Giants moved to California - get in the way of his electrifying, knuckle-whitening neo-pulp prose and story, which will be particularly enjoyed by fans of (appropriately enough) Brooklynite Mickey Spillane. I rated the novel so highly because despite its flaws, this is one of the best neo-pulps I've ever read, and I'd love to read more from Jon Spoelstra, and I highly recommend him to my fellow Spillane fans. show less

First and foremost, I love old men. Respect your elders and whatnot. I also love a good mystery so this is right up my alley. Old guy’s wife dies (RIP) and he goes on a journey to see what his exes are doing now or what his life would be like if he chose them instead of her and he writes about it in a blog series. Shortly after they each wind up dead. The basis was pretty solid. Back that up with elderly humor and I’m all in. I felt like the ending was a bit over the top but hey, why show more not. I’ll definitely read the rest of this series. show less

Jake McHenry is a rich private detective and Brooklyn Dodgers fan in New York, 1951. He is approached by an agent of Joe McCarthy to get a list of a bunch of commies that she is holding. She's rich too, and loves sex, so has, besides the commie list, a bunch of photos to be used for blackmail. Jack goes to work getting the list, and gets the blackmail photos too. It turns out to be an involved plot, and some famous names, besides McCarthy appear -- Nixon, Bobby Kennedy, Wild Bill Donovan show more appear. It's a fun book, with lots of killing, and Jack's obsession with the Dodgers is well done, and it dovetails nicely with the great end to that Dodgers season. A readable and exciting book, with lots of real events about that year. show less

It's the Korean War. Business is booming. Baseball is the national sport. If they could bottle the smell of hot dogs on a summer day at the park, someone would become a millionaire. Reds - Russian Reds, not ichink ones -have infiltrated the entire government. They are everywhere and Joe McCarthy has decided to root them out (and if he gains some personal power in the meantime, well those are just the spoils of war.)

Jake, a former OSS agent who tracked down Nazi networks after the war (and show more made a ton of money in the process) is running a small private detective agency mostly for appearances and to account for his income, when he is approached by an old friend Nick, who brings along Senator McCarthy who wants to hire Jake for a small job. He is to break into the house of the "Ice Maiden", a beautiful commie agent who has a list (McCarthy, like Arlen Specter, was obsessed with those lists that always seemed to remain in his pocket) of reds in government.

Jake takes along a couple of friends, succesfully gains entry to the building and a couple of safes where he discovers not a list of names, but pornigraphic photographs of prominent men in in flagrante delicto (such a delicious phrase, that) with the Ice Queen and one of those is "Tail-Gunner Joe" in positions befitting his nickname. He also discovers drawings that appear to be of a bomb and lots of writing in Korean. Realizing he is getting into the middle of an extortion racket, he turns photographs of everything over to Nick and opts out - he hopes. Then he becomes the target.

I must say that for some odd reason, baseball has been a theme in several recent books. Baseball lore provides an important backdrop to this story (even includes a picture of Ebbetts field, although why is totally beyond my comprehenson) and Jesse Stone and Sunny Randall mysteries by Robert Parker also have baseball lore permeating the story. show less