Savage Garden

Everyone who loved LAST LULLABY, SUGAR SKULL and THE JASMINE TRADE needs to rush out and read SAVAGE GARDEN. Denise Hamilton has lost none of the edge she exhibited in those books. If anything, she's a smarter, more accomplished writer now. The opening passages of SAVAGE GARDEN put one in mind of the very best of Michael Connelly. The writing here is lyrical and lovely and, most importantly, it evokes the mean streets of Los Angeles that Hamilton writes so well. In her fourth novel, Hamilton tells the story of a gifted and driven playright and his old love, who is also the lead actress in his newest play. When the actress goes missing on opening night, the police aren't even convinced foul play has been involved. Though Eve not only suspects foul play, she's afraid her own lover might have something to do with it.

Great read. It took me back to the heart of Los Angeles where I used to live. Interesting and diverse characters, lots of action and a fast pace make this a book you won't want to put down. Oh, and a short, but smoking, love scene in a .... but I don't want to give away any details.

Eve Diamond should be sipping a drink in her retro cocktail dress, boyfriend Silvio at her side and a night of cutting-edge theater stretched before her. But when the diva star of the play is a no-show, Eve and Silvio go to check on her as a favor to the director, who is Silvio's old friend. By the end of the first chapter, it's clear that Eve isn't going to see the show. But the good news is that Eve, a seasoned LA Times reporter, has a big jump on her competition in what promises to be a huge breaking story. Savage Garden is Hamilton's best-written of the four-book Eve Diamond series. It is filled with underlying themes of trust and honesty that support the plot and add depth and a certain edgy mood to the story. Are reporters making up quotes and fabricating sources? Are they stealing each other's ideas? Is Silvio being honest with Eve about his own relationship with the missing actress? As usual, Hamilton nails the dynamics of an urban newsroom, with its hierarchies and posturing. Eve doesn't like having a new hot-shot reporter sitting at her desk, using her phone and listening in on her conversations. But she herself is not above stealing a story by pretending she couldn't stop her colleague in time to do it himself. Readers of previous Diamond mysteries are aware of Eve's insecurities and jealousies and ambition, and this book takes all these traits up a notch. Hamilton uses the city of Los Angeles as a perfect setting for her vibrant story lines. She sets scenes in fantastic ethnic restaurants, poverty-filled neighborhoods, dense forests, rugged oceanside cliffs. The action pops off the pages, and the writing shows great style. Savage Garden is a terrific mystery, a must-read with a strong woman lead character and a lot of suspense.

Hamilton jams her plot's pedal to the metal on page one, and never lets up. Savage Garden flat out smokes. Careening across the vast expanse of Los Angeles County, from the barrios to Malibu, Echo Park to the Pacific Coast Highway, Savage Garden unflinchingly targets those souls who view LA as a giant stage for their own star turns, only to so often find the tank empty. Like their city, Hamilton's characters are constantly shifting, changing, and little is as it seems. And motion, relentless motion. It's Chinatown with a latin beat and modern style. It's Chandler for the here and now. Hamilton's taut prose and exquisitely etched characters are the perfect vehicles for advancing her plot and ratcheting up the suspense. Savage Garden is the finest all-around effort to date from a significant new voice in crime fiction.

In Los Angeles the opening day curtain call is in one hour for the play Our Lady of the Barrio by gangbanger Alfonso Reventon; however the leading lady, explosive actress Catarina Velosi has not shown up at the playhouse. Since Alfonso is a childhood friend, Silvio Aguilar asks his girlfriend Los Angeles Times reporter Eve Diamond to accompany him to Catarina's apartment where they find her dead. The police wonder if Alfonso who worshipped Catarina and wrote his play for her killed her in a passionate rage or Silvio whose entrance to the crime scene with a perfect witness might have covered up evidence that he was previously there. Eve, accompanied by African-American reporter Felice Morgan, conducts inquiries into those who knew the volatile diva to determine who had the opportunity because several people besides the two prime suspects which include Alfonso's wife, the victim's drama teacher, and a Hollywood big shot, along with a seemingly cast of thousands had motives. The latest Eve Diamond investigation is refreshed by Felice who brings a youthful (annoying to Eve) vigor to the case even as the veteran reporter wonders if her "protégé" is a racial quota Blair clone or the real thing; either way she does not want a partner. The who-done-it cleverly makes Eve seems more real than her previous appearances because of her resentment of having a tag-along and how personalized this homicide is with the ties to her boyfriend. Though the racial quota vs. talent issue is never fully explored, fans of Southern California artsy mysteries will agree that Denise Hamilton has scored with this Ace of Diamonds journalistic investigative novel. Harriet Klausner