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Ed Lynskey has done it again. In his new mystery, The Blue Cheer, Lynskey brings back Frank Johnson (from The Dirt-Brown Derby), the PI who moves from his hometown of Pelham, Virginia to a mountaintop cabin in Scarab, West Virginia, to find a little peace and quiet. Everything was going well for Frank until a Stinger rocket exploded in his back yard. While investigating the rocket’s origins, Johnson discovers a racist cult called The Blue Cheer, and then people close to him begin turning up dead. Frank and his bounty hunter friend, Gerald Peyton, uncover the group’s terrorist activities and work to stop them. Complicating matters for Frank, however, is the prison escape of his death-row inmate cousin, Rod Bellwether—because the sheriff thinks Frank knows something about it.
The Blue Cheer is a story that grips the reader at once and is hard to put
down. The plot’s twists and turns are rapid-fire, and the characters are
all too human. Everything I said about Frank Johnson’s character in my
review of The Dirt-Brown Derby holds true here. Johnson is a regular guy—witty, but with flaws. Old Man Maddox, Frank’s best friend in Scarab, has
a CIA past and a remarkable devotion to his much younger wife. We also meet a
myriad of other characters: Dr. Thomas, the physician/undertaker, Hattie
McGraw, a blind mountain dweller, and various dirty law enforcement types.
Mystery fans should pick up a copy of The Blue Cheer. While it’s a very
satisfying read, it will still leave you wanting more.
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