Blue Moon

Great book. Well-written, humorous, well-plotted. I look forward to more books in what could be a well-done series. I'm a big fan of John Morgan Wilson's Justice series and while this is not as dark as those can be, it is well worth the read.

Blue Moon is one of those rare pieces I read in one sitting. The authors craft a story with good pace (the celluloid runs through your mind during the car chase to the Golden Gate Bridge) Having been interested in the Duchin story for years, the authors play with Peter Duchin's personal history and use it to wonderful effect. Just as Philip Damon prefers of his music, the book "swings".

Society bandleader Peter Duchin and Edgar Award winning author John Morgan Wilson team up and give us a smoothly written little mystery in "Blue Moon."Set in the San Francisco of 1963, they blend history with fiction in an action packed noirish plot.Celebrities and pop icons of the day from Joe DiMaggio to Andy Warhol---Jackie Kennedy to Jack Kerouac---Truman Capote to Willie Mays pop up along with a major part for Herb Caen.It has the feel of Archy McNally meeting up with The Thin Man---snappy dialogue, complex plot, lotsa characters with agendas, many cocktails, dead bodies and an alto sax playing San Francisco Inspector who sits in with the protagonist's (Philip Damon) band.It is an excellent amateur sleuth whodunit peopled with intriguing characters. The atmosphere of sixties San Francisco is truly captured.There are many laughs along the way. "Blue Moon" is big fun.

For those who enjoy a literary style as smooth and sweet as the legendary swing bands of the forties, here's an engrossing new mystery series to discover. Edgar winning author, John Morgan Wilson, teams up with society bandleader, Peter Duchin, to create an evocative series set in the world of the high society movers and shakers of 1963. Like Mr. Duchin himself, the protagonist is part of the social set that includes celebs of the time from DiMaggio and the Kennedys--a unique and clever milleau for dramas high and low as murder follows murder, and our protag is pursued as well. I enjoyed the bright and complex characterizations and the intricate, noirish mystery plot as much as the authors' stylish, clear phrasings--in all, a piece of tantalizing music set into novel form. This mystery is a winner. You will be glad to discover this series early.

He is the bandmaster of the Philip Damon Orchestra, lives in a beautiful apartment in New York City, and is on a first name basis with Jackie Kennedy and Truman Capote among other notables. On the surface, Phillip Damon has it all, but deep in his heart he is still grieving for Diana and their unborn child who were murdered in their apartment while Philip and his orchestra were on the road. The murderer was never caught.Philip and his company are performing at a charity gig in the Fairmont Hotel when he momentarily spots a woman who looks almost exactly like his dead wife. During the actual performance, he sees the woman Lenore Ashley on the arms of famous real state tycoon Terrence Collier III. During the performance, the lights go out momentarily. When they come back on Collier is dead, an ice pick in his chest. Diana was involved with Collier before she met Philip and he is determined to find out if the murders are linked and if so, how.Peter Duchin and John Morgan Wilson team up to write one of the better debut amateur sleuth novels of the year. The work itself is very atmospheric and the story line, which takes place in 1963, seems like it occurs in a world so much different than four decades ago. The plot is extremely well crafted, with so many coincidences and linking relationship that readers will keep turning the pages to find out all the secrets and agendas of the myriad of suspects.Harriet Klausner