The Do-Re-Mi

I'm not one to do this sort of thing, with any regularity. However, I'm more than happy to recommend this book to any and all, especially those who like the mix of detective/mystery stories with strong intellectual turns. Any time I can read a story like this one (a mix of serious mayhem, a focus on the 60's, reference to "Mood Indigo" and Kirkegaard, and much more in the way of surprises), I'm delighted. Highyly recommend this read!

It's Summer 1972 and Clifford Hickey, 22, has traveled to Evergreen in the California redwood district to play in a folk festival with his brother Alvaro, an Vietnam vet and former drug user. The local sheriff's nephew Jimmy Marris ends up murdered and Alvaro who takes flight becomes the main suspect. Clifford calls in his Pop, a retired, tough-minded P.I. to help shake things out and clear Alvaro's name. This stylish, offbeat, and intricate murder mystery features the eccentric, likeable Hickey family (DO-RE-MI is fourth in the series, the third title THE LOUD ADIOS won a 1991 Shamus award). Lots of 1970s echoes. Phil Ochs headlines the festival. Clifford's friend Nancy lived with the Charlie Manson family. Maverick bikers ("Cossacks"), jaded hippies, and corrupt sheriffs complicate matters for Clifford who might not make it to begin law school in the Fall. Something different, this first-rate P.I. novel spins a compelling tale with a little romance as well.

In 1972, twenty two year-old Clifford Hickey gives it one last chance to live his dream of making it as a folk singer. However, though he admires his taciturn ethical private investigator dad Tom, Clifford would prefer not to follow his footsteps into law enforcement; he informs his father that if he fails this time in his music endeavor he plans to enter USC law school. Clifford is scheduled perform at Evergreen jamboree. He arrives in the midst of the redwoods to stay at the camp of his half-brother Alvaro. However, soon afterwards, cops assault the site with Alvaro fleeing into the woods while Clifford is incarcerated, but eventually freed. Clifford learns that Alvaro has been charged with the murder of a local law enforcement official's relative. He does not believe Alvaro would commit such a crime so taking a page from his sleuthing dad, Clifford notifies his father, but begins to investigate rather than wait for the clever private detective to arrive as time is critical. He soon finds every type of sub-group in town wants Alvaro to take the fall. The mantle moves on as the son takes center stage from the father (Tom was the focus of the previous books - all worth reading). The story line is driven by Clifford's discovery of social strata circa Viet Nam era California woods where hippies, bikers, Feds, and locals intermingle in a fractured peaceful coexistence. The whodunit is cleverly set up so that Alvaro looks guilty to readers and support cast with only his family believing otherwise. Ken Kuhlken provides flavor of the era inside a wonderful historical private investigate tale. Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Nina Larson for Reader Views (8/06) Ahhhh, 1972. Was it a time of flowers, free love, new starts, and new opportunities? Oh, wait. That was 1971. In Ken Kuhlken's new book The Do-Re-Mi, the summer of 1972 was supposed to be just like it. Except Ken's main character learns the hard way that chasing the past can be unsettling as nothing stays the same. And sometimes trying to go back to utopia can be murder. The book starts with Clifford Hickey heading to a folk music festival where he expects a week of bonding with his brother, hanging out with other musicians, and playing on stage the last day with a faint hope of landing an agent to get his music career going. He figures if he's lucky, he'll get another opportunity to skinny dip with beautiful hippies. He isn't lucky. The utopia he remembers as being occupied by hippies, returned war veterans, and the locals of the small town of Evergreen has changed. Amazing what greed and drugs will do. The hippies had discovered that free love was wonderful, but eating was good and getting high was even better. In this case you could say money did grow. It just wasn't legal. And the money had attracted bikers. Not the bikers of today, where lawyers ride $30,000 Harleys on weekends, but the biker gangs of 1972. Guys that liked drugs, violence, and money - and not necessarily in that order. The locals were caught in between. Scared of the bikers and contemptuous of the hippies, but needing the money brought in by both. This combination had been simmering all summer and the week before Clifford arrived, it had reached flash point with the death of a young local. Unfortunately for Clifford, the local police believed his ex-convict war veteran brother had done the deed. Clifford refused to believe that and set out to prove it. As an outsider and brother to a rumored killer, he certainly had his work cut out for him. In this coming-of-age story, Clifford learns some hard truths about himself, and about the nature of forgiveness. He also learns that greed, revenge, and passion are the motives for crimes. And of course, stupidity can be a factor too. This book is for any mystery fan, in just about any age range. I highly recommend this to anyone who lived though the late `60's and early `70's, and especially those who have suspicious blanks in their memories during that time. Military veterans might like this book since I suspect the more things change the more they stay the same. All in all, Ken Kuhlken has written a solid mystery. Both a murder mystery and a mystery about Clifford and what makes people tick. My favorite bit of writing is on page 228, about blame and forgiveness. However, I'll let you read it for yourself since it would be a spoiler for the book if I quoted it. As a compulsive reader, I love good compulsive writers, and I was happy to learn that this was the fourth book about the Hickey family by Ken Kuhlken. And of course, I wonder if he in